Meet The Lupins
by SweetDeamon
Summary: "What would you say if I told you my dad is a werewolf?" "The same thing as when you said you can fly on a broomstick, or that you're going to go to a school for wizards, Teddy. You're COMPLETELY bonkers!" AU. RLNT.
1. The Boy Wearing the Wooly Hat

_Note: Hello! This story is AU in that Lupin and Tonks survived the final battle! That's about all I have to say, except that I hope you enjoy reading it!_

_Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor am I making any profit from this piece of writing. However, Caroline "Carrie" Winters is a character of my own creation._

**1: The Boy Wearing the Wooly Hat**

It was exactly one month before her eleventh birthday that Caroline Winters arrived at Number Fifteen Silver Birch Avenue, in the back of her parents' hatchback car, sat on the backseat between her two squabbling older brothers.

"For goodness sake, boys!" Caroline's mother cried as they turned into the driveway, gravel crunching under the wheels of the car. "Can you not stop bickering for just a few minutes? Besides, look, we're here!"

Caroline's brothers, twin boys two years their sister's senior, immediately halted their noisy disagreement in order to turn and press their faces to the cool glass of the windows, looking up at the house with wide, excited eyes.

"There's a window in the roof!" one twin, whose name was Timothy, observed excitedly, causing the other boy, Thomas, to crane his neck to get a good look for himself.

"That would be the attic bedroom." their father informed them happily as the car came to a halt, and the two boys immediately began to argue about which one of them would lay claim to the room in question.

Caroline folded her arms firmly across her chest, eyes upon her shoes as the twins flung open the car doors and scrambled out of the car.

"Come along, Carrie love." her mother said encouragingly, twisting in her seat to look at her daughter's slumped pose. "Don't want the boys to get the best bedrooms, do you?"

As her father climbed out of the car and hurried after the twins, Carrie looked up at her mother, face contorted moodily as she declared:

"I don't care."

Mrs. Winters suppressed a heavy sigh and tried again:

"Well why don't you go and take a look in the back garden? There's a great big tree out there, Dad says he could build you a tree house! A proper tree house, Carrie! Couldn't have one of those back at the flat now, could you?"

Carrie drew her legs up upon the seat and hugged her knees to her chest.

"No," she mumbled, long hair falling to cover her face as she hung her head dejectedly. "But what's the point of having a tree house if you've got no friends to play in it with?"

"You're going to have plenty of friends to play with!" Mrs. Winters insisted, reaching to pat the girl comfortingly upon the knee. "You'll be starting school in September, you'll be just as new as everybody else and you'll make lots of new friends! Not to mention there must be children living on this street..."

"I don't want lots of new friends!" Carried protested miserably, jerking away from her mother's hand. "I've already got lots of friends! And we were all going to go to school together! To Tillbury High! Together!"

"Oakhurst Manor is a wonderful school, Caroline, and your father has been waiting for this promotion for years..." Mrs. Winters began firmly, only for her daughter to let out a little shriek of anger, jabbing the seat belt release button with far more force than was necessary, before slumping down onto her side, curling herself up into a ball.

"I want to go home!" the child cried, grasping fistfuls of hair in agitation. "I want to go back to Tillbury!"

Her mother sighed heavily.

"I'm going to go inside now, love." she informed Carrie rather sadly. "You can just come in when you are ready." And with that, she left her daughter to her sulking.

Within ten minutes Carrie had grown tired of crying and aiming kicks at the back of the driving seat, and so she reluctantly sat up and looked out of the window.

The Winters' new home was certainly far nicer to look at than their old flat back in the town of Tillbury. It was a white-washed semi-detatched house with a front door painted in shiny, bright blue paint. A creeper plant was slowly climbing up the wall to the left of the door and there was a flowerpot of bright yellow flowers upon the doorstep.

Carrie reached to open the car door and slid out of the back seat, closing the door carefully behind her. She stared at the house for a long moment, counting the front windows (six including the one in the roof) and the number of pigeons sat up beside the chimney. (Two, three including the strange brown looking one that after some squinting really didn't look like a pigeon at all. If Carrie would have allowed herself to guess she would have said it was an owl, but she did not allow herself to be so silly. Everybody knows that owls only come out at nighttime.) Then she turned to her left to look at the house next door. There was no car in the drive, so she supposed that her new neighbors were not at home. Their house looked much the same as hers, except their front door was bottle green and there were rather overgrown bushes either side of the door, not creepers. Somebody needed to give them a good trim, they reached above the bottom of the window frames, the windows themselves were dark, net curtains blocking the view inside.

Carrie turned again, her back to her new home, and looked across the road at the houses opposite. They all looked the same – white washed buildings only distinguishable from one another by the bright paint upon their front doors. Carrie heaved a sigh. It was, she concluded, a boring neighborhood. A long way away from her friends.

Carrie reluctantly wandered over to the blue front door and pushed it open, peering into the hallway. Boxes were stacked up along one wall and as she stepped inside and wandered along, past the staircase, Carrie tapped her fingers upon the cardboard as she passed. At each door that she reached, the girl paused to peer into a room, slowly, quietly as if she did not want to be seen or heard. She pretended that she was in somebody else's house, having a sneaky look around before the real owners came home from work, or the shops, or from visiting friends. Behind the first door Carrie found herself looking at a large living room with a big fireplace and stripy red wallpaper upon the walls. Carrie grimaced. Something would need to be done, it all clashed terribly with the sofa and chairs that they had brought with them from their old flat. The ceiling seemed very high, too. Carrie closed the door with a sigh. It didn't look very cosy, not like the little living room back in Tillbury, with the old rug that she had liked to curl up on whilst watching television. As she advanced up the hallway, Carrie regretted her father throwing that rug away, no matter how many holes had been in it.

The next room was much smaller and adorned with rather dull looking cream wallpaper. It was full of yet more boxes. Carrie suspected that this would be the study, somewhere to keep her father's books and the family's computer. Backing out into the hallway again, Carrie found only two doors left. The first turned out to be a cupboard. The second, Carrie assumed, had to be the kitchen, where the rest of her family had congregated judging from the noise coming from within. Carrie shuffled down the hallway and reached to push the door open.

Her mother was busy stacking tins and jars into one of the many kitchen cupboards, whilst her father was busy examining the cooker with far more enthusiasm than Carrie could possibly deem necessary, or even sane. Timothy and Thomas were both sat at the dining table at the far end of the room, they were seemingly still discussing their new bedrooms.

"I'm the oldest!" Timothy was saying as Carrie shuffled past her parents and into the dining area. "So I should have the bigger room..."

"You're older by three minutes!"

"Four, actually."

"What difference does it make?"

Carrie had reached the doors out to the patio. Bored by the debate already she slid them open and stepped out into the back garden. For the first time that day, she found herself smiling. Her mother had been right, it was exciting. After all, Carrie had never had a garden to play in before.

It was a narrow but long garden with a small patio made up of concrete slabs. The rest of the space was covered in grass, it would be good for ball games, Carrie decided. Thick bushes blocked the garden to the left from view. As she wandered down the garden, Carrie wondered what the neighbors were like. Private people, she supposed from the tall hedges both here and at the front of their house. Maybe they were shy. Or maybe they were trying to hide something. As she walked, Carrie allowed her imagination to run away with her, thoughts of secret agents, criminal masterminds and monsters in the attic racing through her head.

Then she reached the tree that her mother had been talking about. It was a big, sturdy tree, perfectly suited for a tree house. Carrie reached to grab hold of a low branch, pulling herself upwards so that her feet swung just short of the ground, testing. _Yep_, she thought happily, _I could have a big tree house right here in this tree. I bet I could see for miles..._

She climbed higher, scrambling up so that she could sit upon the low branch in an attempt to see just what the view would be like.

It was then that she found herself able to look down into the garden next door. Her new neighbors had a tree at the bottom of their garden too, though it was far taller and didn't look any good for climbing. It was the sort of tree that you could sit under on a warm summer's day like today, and read a good book.

It was just as this thought occurred to her that Carrie saw him. The boy in the wooly hat. Sat underneath the tree next door, a book in his hands, legs spread out before him as if he were sunbathing.

In a wooly hat.

Carrie simply stared.

She supposed that he was about her own age, though possibly a little taller than she was. He had unusually long legs and was dressed in a pair of grubby looking denim jeans with a white t shirt that had a big grass stain across the front, rather like the twins' attire after a good game of football in the park.

For the life of her, though, Carrie could not recall her brothers, nor anybody for that matter, wearing a wooly hat in the middle of July. The girl adjusted her grip upon her perch as she leaned, squinting through the bright sunshine to get a better look at him. The tree gave a creak and, at the sound of it, the boy next door looked up from his book, eyes coming to rest upon the stranger sat in the tree.

There was a long pause as they regarded one another, before Carrie called:

"Hello...my name's Carrie...Caroline Winters. My family just moved in here."

The boy closed his book with a snap and put it down upon the grass beside him. He reached to shade his eyes against the sun as he looked up at her.

"Hello Carrie," he called back, offering her a little wave with his other hand. "My name's Teddy. Teddy Lupin."

"You're wearing a wooly hat." Carrie called, just in case he hadn't noticed his blunder.

"Yes..." came the slightly hesitant response, and Carrie wondered if it had been a little rude of her to pick out his odd choice of clothing. "I couldn't find my baseball cap."

"It's the middle of the summer though," Carrie pointed out, letting go of the branch with one hand so that she could gesture towards the sun, wobbling a little at the movement. "You'd be better off without any hat at all, wouldn't you? You must feel terribly hot!"

Teddy Lupin shrugged his shoulders, apparently he did not seem to have noticed the heat.

"I have to wear a hat sometimes," he told Carrie, just as the two children heard the sound of a back door being opened. "When I'm not well."

Carrie felt colour flood her cheeks and she drew a hasty breath to say something apologetic, only for a woman's voice to call:

"Teddy! Lunch!"

Teddy Lupin offered her a bright smile and a wave, before he snatched up his book and headed back towards his house at a run.

Carrie wondered quite what could be wrong with him. He certainly didn't seem very unwell. Jumping from the tree and landing upon the ground with a soft thump, Carrie ran back to her own house, ready to tell her mother all about the strange boy she had met in the garden, and ask what possible reason he could have to need to wear a wooly hat.


	2. Mr and Mrs Lupin

_Note: Back from holiday and nursing my wounds..._

_Here is a shiny new chapter for you! I am sorry that it has taken me a while, you can blame the reviewers of Without a Trace! I left them on a couple of deadly cliffhangers and felt compelled to update before they came after me with burning torches and pitchforks. Thank you very much for those of you who reviewed this story, I'm so glad to hear that you liked the first chapter, it is so different from my other fics that I wasn't sure people would bother to read it! So...thank you! =)_

_Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor am I making any profit from this piece of writing. I do however own Caroline "Carrie" Winters and her family._

**2: Mr and Mrs Lupin**

The next morning Carrie sat upon the rug in her new bedroom, one of many cardboard boxes before her as she looked through her belongings. Her mother had suggested she fill up the bookcase, cupboard and draws with her things, stick her pictures and posters upon the walls. It would feel more like home. As it was, Carrie had only managed to remove things from their boxes and set them down upon the floor beside her, she was too lost in thought to put them somewhere neat and tidy.

At that precise moment in time she had just come across a box of snapshots that she and her friends had taken just before she had moved away from her old house. As soon as her parents had announced that they would be leaving, Carrie and her friends had religiously packed a camera on every one of their outings. They had taken countless photographs of one another so that Carrie would have plenty of photos to stick on her wall. Looking through the frozen memories, glossy laughter and vivid smiles in ink, Carrie found herself wondering if these new friends that her mother kept assuring her she would find would ever make such an effort to cheer her too. She thought of Teddy Lupin and their strange conversation the day beforehand, and yet again wished that she had not questioned his choice of hat. She supposed it unlikely that he would turn out to be one of these new friends, not after what she had said to him.

When Carrie had told her mother about Teddy Lupin, Mrs. Winters had paused in her sorting through a box in the living room, put her hand to her mouth and said:

"That poor, poor boy!"

When Carrie had asked why Teddy Lupin was a poor, poor boy her mother had not appeared to be listening.

"And you asked him why he was wearing a hat! Oh Carrie, how could you?"

"But it was a wooly hat, Mum. And it's the summer! I thought it was strange, so I just asked him why he was wearing it..."

"Oh how awful! He must have been so embarrassed, the poor soul! It must be terrible enough for him without people asking questions!"

Carrie had felt rather irritated then, because she still didn't understand what on earth her mother was talking about.

"Well he didn't seem upset or anything!" she protested, but her mother merely shook her head and said again:

"That poor boy!"

But then her father had poked his head around the door and asked who they were talking about.

"The neighbors' son," Mrs. Winters had told him solemnly. She lowered her voice a little as if somebody was going to overhear her. "Poor boy must have some form of cancer! Carrie says he was wearing a wooly hat, you know, to cover up his head."

And then Mr. Winters had looked terribly sad too and had said:

"How awful!"

Carrie had sat rigidly upon the sofa whilst her mother had explained to her about cancer and exactly what chemotherapy was, and by the end of the explanation the girl felt so utterly wretched for poking her nose into other people's business that she had felt as though she was going to burst into tears.

"I'll tell you what, love," her mother had told her eventually, seemingly oblivious to how mortified Carrie was by the whole business, "I'll bake him some cookies tomorrow, then you can take them next door and apologize to him."

If she were entirely honest, Carrie had to admit that she was not entirely keen on the idea of going to apologize to Teddy Lupin. In fact Carrie was not sure that she was comfortable saying anything at all to him, she felt much too embarrassed, in fact she felt downright awkward. Not to mention that she didn't really know the Lupin family at all. What if she went round there and they turned out to be horrible? What if they were really upset with her for what she had said to Teddy? What if Teddy didn't like chocolate chip cookies?

But of course, Carrie realized as she heard her mother beckoning to her from downstairs, she didn't really have a choice in the matter. Her mother had just finished baking the cookies. Besides, even if

the Lupins turned out to be the worst kind of people imaginable, at least Carrie would know that she had tried her best to be kind.

And so Carrie abandoned her box of photographs and headed towards the stairs, pausing in front of the mirror upon her wardrobe to straighten her floral summer dress and smooth her long, russet brown hair that fell in waves down her back. Deeming herself presentable she hurried downstairs to find her mother waiting for her in the hallway, a big plateful of cookies held carefully in both hands.

"Make sure you don't drop them!" Mrs. Winters said as Carrie slipped on her shoes and reached to open the door. Then, armed with the plateful of cookies, the girl made her way carefully across the small patch of grass that separated the two driveways and walked slowly up to the Lupins' front door. For a long moment she simply stood, staring at the shiny green door, fighting back her nerves, before finally taking a deep breath and reaching for the big brass door knocker. She gave three rather feeble taps and took a step back off of the front step, adjusting her grip upon the cookies as if they were some sort of shield.

_Hello, my name is Caroline Winters_, she recited nervously in her head, _I live next door. I've got some cookies for Teddy, I am very sorry that he is sick...no...I'm sorry that he is ill...no, just...I'm sorry about my conversation with your son yesterday afternoon, it was very rude...yes...it was none of my business and I'm very, very sorry...I'm nice really, I just...no...wait..._

At that moment, there came the sound of footsteps from within and Carrie took another little step backwards. She was just considering abandoning the cookies upon the doorstep and fleeing back to her own house when the door opened and she found herself staring up at a woman who looked nothing like anything that Carrie had expected. The first thing that struck Carrie was the woman's hair. It was an alarmingly bright shade of bubblegum pink, framing her heart-shaped face in an array of short, spiky strands. She had dark, twinkling eyes and was dressed in a pair of black jeans and a vest top that striped in various shades of pink. Carrie noted the wedding ring upon her finger and, straightening up a little asked:

"Mrs Lupin?"

The woman leaned casually against the door frame and, smiling brightly, told her visitor:

"Yep, that would be me."

Carrie found herself musing upon her own mother's wardrobe full of sensible blouses and the way she tied her hair back in a rather boring and yet very practical ponytail. She had thought that all mothers were like that, indeed her friends' mothers back home had all been similar. It appeared that Mrs. Lupin was the exception to the rule, possibly in every conceivable way. Mrs. Winters never answered the door in such a casual fashion, that was for sure, especially not to strangers. He

It was then that Carrie noticed that Mrs Lupin appeared to be staring at her rather expectantly, and so she hurriedly launched into her little speech.

"Mrs Lupin, my name is Carrie...Caroline Winters, I just moved into the house next door with my family." she explained, feeling relieved when Mrs Lupin offered her a bright smile. "And I've brought some cookies, they're for Teddy..." Carrie trailed off into silence, not quite sure what she was going to say next, only to be surprised when Mrs Lupin positively grinned and exclaimed:  
"Cool! Teddy will be dead pleased, we don't do a lot of baking, I'm totally useless and it isn't really Remus' thing..." she paused to glance over her shoulder towards the staircase in the hallway and bellowed: "Teddy! Come down here, will you?"

"In a minute!" Teddy's muffled voice called from somewhere upstairs.

Mrs Lupin turned back to smile at Carrie, who smiled a little nervously back at her.

"So how come Teddy gets cookies?" the pink haired woman asked, leaning against the door frame again. "He never mentioned that he'd met anyone new, let alone managed to put in a baking order."

The smile instantly faded from Carrie's face and she glanced worriedly down at her shoes.

"Well...well they're...an apology." she mumbled, attempting to look up and speak clearly. "My mum says I shouldn't have commented on Teddy wearing his hat yesterday, when we spoke over the fence in the garden. She said it probably made him feel embarrassed because of his cancer."

There was a sizable pause and the girl looked up to find Mrs Lupin staring at her rather quizzically.

"His...cancer?" Teddy's mother said at last, a deep frown creasing her brow and Carrie felt colour blooming upon her cheeks. She looked back down at her feet again.

"Yes, Mrs Lupin. My mum said that it was bad enough that he was sick without me making him feel silly for wearing a wooly hat."

"Teddy was wearing a wooly hat?"

"Yes Mrs Lupin."

Again, there was a long pause. When Carrie looked up again she found that Mrs Lupin had reached to scratch the back of her neck, her expression a little awkward. After a while the woman straightened up and offered the girl an apologetic look.

"Actually, Carrie, Teddy doesn't have cancer." she explained, much to Carrie's astonishment.

"Oh..." Carrie found herself blushing more furiously than ever. "Oh...I'm sorry...it's just he said he has to wear a hat when he is ill...and...and well we sort of assumed..."

"That's okay. I'm afraid Teddy was being a bit of a drama queen! The doctor says he has extra sensitive skin, he's prone to allergic reactions. It was suggested that if his scalp gets itchy he should wear a hat, otherwise the sun irritates it and it gets worse."

"Oh!" Carrie gave a rather embarrassed half chuckle. "Well...well that's good. I mean...better than cancer, at least."

It was at that moment there came the sound of gravel crunching underfoot and Mrs Lupin glanced past Carrie down the driveway. Carrie turned to see a man dressed in a long sleeved cream shirt and smart brown trousers making his way up the drive, his light brown hair flecked with grey being ruffled by the morning breeze.

"You're late." Mrs Lupin called to him, folding her arms firmly across her chest, and the man paused, eying Carrie for a long moment before announcing:

"The bus broke down."

Mrs Lupin appeared to find this excuse amusing, funny even and she sniggered as the man continued on up the path. For the life of her, Carrie could not imagine what was so funny about a broken down bus.

"Well," Mrs Lupin said as the man came to a halt at Carrie's side and offered her a smile in silent greeting, "since you've finally managed to drag yourself away from Molly's teapot and biscuit barrel, you may be interested to hear that your son has taken to wearing wooly hats out in bright, blazing sunlight."

"Really?" Mr Lupin looked back at his wife, expression one of only mild surprise. "Looks like he's going to take after you after all, Dora – a trend setter!" he turned back to Carrie and lowered his voice somewhat conspiratorially. "Not that the trend is going to catch on, of course. But then that's just another way in which he takes after his mother..."

"Quit being such a git and go and stick the kettle on, Remus." his wife interrupted meaningfully, stepping aside to let him inside. "I think I might just die if I don't have a cuppa before I head off to work. Harry says the office is in total chaos." As he stepped through the door, Remus Lupin paused to press a brief kiss to his wife's cheek.

"This is Carrie, by the way." Dora Lupin told him, and he turned back to look at their visitor again. "Her family just moved in next door. Teddy had them convinced he has cancer, they've even baked him cookies."

"Not the best of first impressions, then." Mr Lupin observed, looking down at Carrie as she clutched hold of the plate of cookies. "Well for what it's worth, Carrie, it was very kind of you to think of him. They look like very good cookies."

Carrie wasn't quite sure what to say, she was too busy musing that the Lupin family really did seem to be out of the ordinary. It was, she decided, the little things; the unusual appearances and the sense of humour...the brief, flickering expressions...

"I'll see to that kettle, shall I?" Remus suggested, turning his back on the door.

"You might like to go pop your head round Ted's door whilst you're at it." Dora said as he made for the kitchen. "I called him down but he's taking his time about it. Not to mention we need to have a little talk."

Carrie watched husband and wife exchange a rather meaningful look before he disappeared into the kitchen and she turned back to face Carrie. The girl held out the plate that she was holding with a rather shy smile.

"Well...my mum says we eat too many cookies as it is." she said, taking a step forwards. "And I still shouldn't have said anything about Teddy's hat, so...these are still for him."

Dora accepted the plate with another grin.

"That's really nice of you, Carrie." she said warmly, before glancing over her shoulder at the stairs. "I'm sure Teddy will be delighted, I have no idea what's taking him so long, but I'm sure he'll be down at any moment."

Carrie took a step back again, her hands clasped together before her.

"It's okay," she said, eyes flickering over to her own porch rather longingly. They seemed a friendly family, that she would admit, but Carrie rather wanted to get back to her house, to sit and have a think about all the strange little things that she had been noticing ever since Mrs. Lupin had opened the door. "I should probably be getting back anyway...my lunch will be ready."

"Right," Dora said as Remus came out of the kitchen and headed for the stairs. "Well I'm sure he'll see you to thank you at some point..."

"Theodore?" Remus was calling from halfway up the staircase, and Dora turned to listen to the muffled, rather hesitant reply.

"Yes Dad...?"

"Your mother and I need to have a word with you."

There was silence.

"Come downstairs please."

More silence.

"Did you hear me?" Remus called, and at last there came the sound of stomping footsteps and Teddy appeared at the top of the stairs, today, Carrie saw, sporting a bright red baseball cap.

"This is bad, isn't it?" the boy grumbled as he began a rather noisy descent of the stairs. "I know it is. You only call me that name when you're angry with me."

"I'll just be going then." Carrie decided, and Dora looked back at her, expression a little apologetic.

"Right, well thanks again, Carrie, these look brilliant." she said, and Remus offered a little wave as he reached the bottom of the stairs.

"I'm glad you like them. If you want, my mum can always make some more. She likes baking."

"That sounds lovely."

"Goodbye, Mrs Lupin."

"Bye Carrie!"

So Carrie headed back to her house, wondering what exactly Teddy had done wrong, and when she sat down for lunch some five minutes later she still could not decide what was so funny about a broken down bus.


	3. Godric and Helga

_Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor am I making any profit from this piece of writing. _

**3: Godric and Helga**

The town of Eddington, within whose outskirts the Winters' new home was situated, was much smaller than Tillbury where Carrie had spent her years at primary school. Carrie discovered this upon the second full day that she and her family had spent in the new house, because she had accompanied her mother and her brothers on a walk around the town and it had taken a mere fifteen minutes for them to reach the shops at the town center. There were not a great number of shops to look around, either, but Carrie was pleased to discover that there was at least one toy shop that seemed to sell quite a wide variety of toys and a tiny pet shop with, to Carrie's delight, a cage at the window containing three adorable kittens.

It was whilst stood before this window, her nose pressed to the glass as she peered at the little bundles of fur, that Carrie heard somebody step up next to her, and a voice asked:

"What are you looking at?"

Carrie glanced sideways towards the sound of the voice, just in time to see Teddy Lupin, today sporting a bright turquoise bucket hat, lean to press his own nose to the window.

"Cool, kittens!" the boy said, reaching to tap his fingers upon the glass in a vain attempt to get the creatures' attention.

"You like cats?" Carrie asked him, turning her attention back to the window.

"Yeah, I wanted one for my birthday, only Mum says Godric and Helga wouldn't like it."

Carrie turned back to offer him a bemused look.

"Who're Godric and Helga?" She was sure that she had never heard of anybody called Godric before, it was a funny name.

"Godric belongs to Dad and Helga's Mum's." Teddy explained, only half paying attention as he banged a little more loudly on the glass. The ginger kitten finally looked up from sniffing the litter tray and stared at him with big, dark eyes.

"Right..." Carrie still thought Godric was an absurd name, but she decided not to comment. She did not want a repeat of what had happened the last time that she and Teddy had spoken in the garden. "And...what are Godric and Helga?"

When Teddy answered, Carrie was sure that she had misheard him.

"They're owls."

"Pardon?"

"I said they're owls."

"Owls?"

"Yes. Godric's an eagle owl and Helga...well Mum claims she's a great grey owl but there's nothing great about her, she's a midget."

Carrie couldn't help it, she giggled.

"That's ridiculous!" she exclaimed, and Teddy finally straightened up and looked round at her questioningly. "Nobody keeps owls as pets! They're wild animals!"

Teddy reached to adjust the hat upon his head, nonplussed.

"Dad's taking me to buy one next week." he went on, as if he had not heard what Carrie had said. "So that I can take it to school with me."

Again, Carrie giggled.

"You can't take an owl into a school! What on earth would the teachers say?" When Teddy merely shrugged his shoulders, Carrie decided to stop talking nonsense and asked him: "Are you going to be going to Oakhurst Manor?" It would be nice, she thought, to be able to recognize somebody on her first day, even if that person was a boy as strange and silly as Teddy Lupin. To her disappointment, Teddy shook his head.

"No, I'm going to be going to boarding school."

"Gosh," Carrie said, trying not to sound too disappointed, after all they barely knew one another. "How exciting! But won't you miss your parents?"

Teddy pursed his lips together, thoughtful.

"I think I'll miss Dad more." he decided, frowning a little as if he had not given his parents' absence much thought before. "Since Mum's always at work anyway."

"What does she do?"

Teddy's thoughtful expression was suddenly replaced by a broad grin.

"She chases the bad guys and throws them in jail."

"So...she's a policewoman?"

There was a long pause before Teddy opened his mouth to reply, only for a voice behind them to make both children jump.

"You know, Teddy, when I said you should go and play in the garden I wasn't aware that the garden fence stretched quite this far."

Carrie and Teddy both spun round, the boy fixed a suitably innocent expression onto his face and for some reason Carrie found herself mirroring his action.

"Hi Dad!" Teddy greeted cheerfully, and Carrie looked up at Mr. Lupin, relieved to see that he looked only mildly disproving of his son's behavior. Personally, Carrie could not even imagine just how furious her own father would be if she were to wander off into town on her own, but for some reason she was not entirely surprised at Teddy's father's lack of anger.

"Your mother will be home within the hour and you haven't finished tidying the kitchen."

"Oh..." Teddy mumbled, shoving his hands in his pockets and looking sheepish. "Sorry Dad, I forgot about that..."

Mr. Lupin hmmed somewhat disbelievingly, before turning to Carrie and offering her a bright smile.

"Good morning, Carrie."

"Good morning Mr. Lupin." Carrie replied politely, she felt far less shy upon meeting Teddy's father for the second time. He seemed to be very easy going compared to most adults she knew.

"I was just about to say thank you for the cookies." Teddy explained, turning back to her and mirroring his father's smile, in fact, Carrie thought, they looked startlingly alike when they both did that. "They were amazing!"

"You're very welcome." Carrie told him, and quite suddenly his face lit up as if he had an idea.

"Dad!" Teddy exclaimed, rounding on his father and fixing him with an expectant look. "Carrie doesn't believe me about Godric and Helga! Can she come back with us and see them?"

The expression upon Mr. Lupin's face when presented with this question was somewhat hesitant.

"You...told Carrie about Godric and Helga?"

"Yeah, can she come and see them?"

There was a long pause, Mr Lupin pursed his lips into a thin line and Carrie could not help but get the feeling that he was not entirely pleased with his son's proposal.

But as soon as the expression had appeared it was gone again, replaced by a smile.

"Of course she can, if her mother doesn't mind."

Carrie was so excited at the prospect of seeing a couple of pet owls that she ran the length of the high street to fetch her mother, who was busy browsing the window of the local florist.

"Mum!" she cried excitedly as she skidded to a halt, startling Mrs. Winters, who almost dropped her shopping. "You'll never guess what!"

Mrs. Winters took a moment to readjust her grip upon her shopping bags before asking:

"What's that, Carrie love?"

Carrie drew a deep breath to announce the astonishing and all together exciting news that their new neighbours kept a couple of wild animals as pets, only to think better of it. What on earth would her mother think of such a strange revelation? Being the scrupulously tidy individual that she was, Carrie was pretty sure that the mere thought of having owls inside a house would not impress her mother in the slightest. Besides, the girl mused as she took a long moment to simply grin excitedly, she didn't want her mother to think the neighbors were really weird (even if it was becoming increasingly likely that they were exactly that), if she did she might not want Carrie to mix with them. And Carrie liked them, she realized with slight surprise at herself. She liked Teddy Lupin's quirky little obsession with brightly coloured headgear, and she liked how he spoke so normally about downright bizarre and all together silly things, she could see him being a lot of fun. And she liked how friendly Mr. Lupin was and how he didn't ignore her like lots of adults do when children are around. She liked how completely unlike her own mother Mrs. Lupin was, how she appeared to be so completely unlike the norm and yet perfectly approachable with a mood as bright as her hair.

Carrie liked the hair, too. It was very cool.

"I just bumped into Teddy Lupin outside of the pet shop." Carrie told her mother, resisting the urge to hop from foot to foot with excitement. "He asked me if I wanted to go round to his house for lunch today. Can I go?"

"What does his mother say?" Mrs. Winters asked, and when Carrie informed her that _Mr_. Lupin said it was fine, she muttered: "Very modern."

Carrie wasn't entirely sure what her mother meant, so she asked:

"So can I go?"

"I don't see why not." Mrs. Winters said, staring over the top of Carrie's head. Carrie spun on her heel to see what her mother was looking at, and spotted Teddy and his father walking down the street towards them, midway through a rapid yet quiet conversation. Teddy looked rather red in the face, Carrie thought as the conversation came to a rather abrupt end when Mr. Lupin interrupted his son's murmured babble with:

"Well I suppose we shall just have to wait and listen to hear what your mother has to say about it, won't we?"

Teddy visibly flinched. His father seemingly didn't notice because they had come to a halt before Carrie and her mother, and he was too busy reaching to shake hands with Mrs. Winters with a polite greeting. Carrie shuffled over to Teddy's side, leaving the adults to the customary niceties of parents meeting for the first time.

"Did I get you in trouble again?" she whispered to the boy, who was digging at the gaps between the concrete paving stones with the toe of his shoe.

"What?" he glanced up at her with a questioning look, and she felt herself blushing at his bemusement. She opened her mouth to reply, only for Mr. Lupin to step sideways and gesture towards his son with one hand.

"This is my son Teddy."

Teddy turned his attention to Carrie's mother and stepped forward to offer her his hand.

"Hello Mrs. Winters," he greeted warmly, his smile somewhat identical to that of his father. "My mum said you baked those cookies for me. Thank you very much, they were the best cookies I've ever tasted."

As her mother beamed delightedly at Teddy and Mr. Lupin seconded the boy's opinion, Carrie was left to wonder what Teddy was in trouble for this time. Perhaps, she mused hopefully, it didn't have anything to do with her. After all, Teddy had wandered off without telling his father where he was going; maybe Mr. Lupin had been more annoyed than he had first appeared. If that were the case, Carrie wouldn't have blamed him...

"Well then Carrie," At the sound of her name, the girl was brought back to the present and she looked up at her mother with a smile. "You will behave yourself, won't you, love?"

"Yes Mum."

"We'll have her back in time for dinner." Mr. Lupin said as Mrs. Winters stepped forward to peck her daughter on the cheek, and with a brief exchange of farewells he led the way back up the street, Carrie and Teddy walking just behind him.

A car was not the only modern amenity that the Lupin family appeared to lack, Carrie discovered upon stepping through their front door, wiping her shoes carefully on the doormat. Indeed, when she had followed Teddy to the doorway of the living room and watched Mr. Lupin take a seat in an armchair, she had almost wondered aloud: where's the television?

Maybe, she thought as Teddy leant against the doorway, folding his arms across his chest, they're some of those people who believe television rots your brain or something...

"Can you make us some hot chocolate?" Teddy asked his father as Carrie peered around the room curiously.

"Give me five minutes, Ted." Mr. Lupin murmured as he snatched up a stack of papers that had been left upon the floor beside his chair. "I need to send these off first, the deadline's today."

Carrie finished her inspection of the wallpaper (a rather serene shade of green) and somewhat oversized stone fireplace, just in time to see Teddy sigh heavily, puffing his cheeks.

"Sure, Dad." he mumbled somewhat dejectedly, and Mr. Lupin glanced up briefly before reaching to pick up a stack of envelopes from the coffee table.

"What's the Golden Rule, Theodore?"

Teddy's face contorted moodily.

"The Golden Rule sucks, Dad." he gestured to the pile of papers upon his father's lap. "_This_ sucks..."

Carrie edged back a step and averted her eyes, feeling suddenly awkward.

"This is what it is, Teddy, we don't sulk about it. Now why don't you take Carrie to see Godric and Helga? I'll bring you the drinks up in a moment."

Teddy looked sideways at Carrie as if he had forgotten she was there, and his cheeks visibly reddened.

"C'mon Carrie," he said, attempting a smile as he hurried towards the stairs. "You can help me give them some lunch."

Relieved that an argument had been avoided, Carrie dashed up the stairs after him, her unease suddenly forgotten, replaced by excitement.

_Owls! Real pet owls!_

Teddy led the way across the landing to the narrow staircase that lead up to the attic room which, he informed Carrie somewhat more cheerfully, was where the family kept their pets. The room had white washed walls and was dimly lit by a single lamp that sat upon a battered old sideboard up against one wall. The curtains were firmly drawn across the windows and Carrie had to squint through the gloom to spot two large bird cages, in which were sat...

"Owls!" Carrie squealed aloud, eyes widening in surprise at the sight of the two creatures who were both regarding her with large, bright eyes.

Teddy appeared to be back to his former cheery self, for he grinned widely as he turned back to look at the girl from next door.

"I told you so!" he declared as the smaller of the two owls, a round ball of light brown feathers that Carrie guessed was named Helga, gave itself a little shake and hooted softly.

Carrie bounded across the room to get a closer look, Teddy following behind her.

"She's cute!" Carrie announced excitedly as she peered through the bars, and Teddy gave a chuckle.

"She's fat." he corrected, reaching to poke a finger through the bars and wiggle it temptingly at the female owl, pulling it out again when it attempted to peck at him. "When my godfather and his family come to visit the children stuff her full of owl treats."

"Owl treats?"

"Yeah."

"Like...like dog treats, but for owls? Where on earth do you buy those from?"

When Teddy simply shrugged and turned his attention to a small chest of draws that appeared to contain some sort of bird feed, Carrie shuffled over to get a better look at Godric. The enormous grey owl stared unblinking at her with bright orange eyes, sat upon it's perch as if it were a king upon a throne. That was until Teddy produced a plastic box from the chest of draws and gave it an enticing shake. At the sound of rattling food, both Godric and Helga began to fidget upon their stands excitedly.

Carrie enjoyed helping Teddy tip a generous portion of food into a couple of dishes and posting them through gaps in the bars, watching the owls pick at the food contentedly.

_Who would have thought it_, she mused as Helga cracked a pellet of food in her beak. _Real pet owls..._

It was strange. Very strange indeed.


	4. An Unwelcome Guest

_Note: This is a rather short chapter, I'm sorry about that! To think I was determined to make these longer than chapters in my previous stories, too...! Not sure this turned out how I wanted...but ah well! =)_

_Besides, I had to update quickly, since Kuroida updated THREE times in the space of two days. If I'm not careful she will make me look slow...! =) (By the way, go and read her new fic, it will make you giggle!)_

_Thank you so much to everybody who was patient enough to wait for me to update, and of course to my reviewers, thank you very much indeed!_

_Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor am I making any profit from this writing. Caroline "Carrie" Winters, however, belongs to me. _

**4: An Unwelcome Guest**

Both hands wrapped around a steaming mug of hot chocolate, Carrie Winters sat upon the lawn, watching the world go by.

Meanwhile, sat cross legged beside her, a mug of his own clutched in one hand, Teddy Lupin watched Carrie Winters.

He had been staring at her for some minutes, Carrie was perfectly aware, but she was resisting the urge to ask him why because his expression was one of extreme thoughtfulness. Carrie did not want to disturb him.

Besides, Carrie herself had quite a lot to think about. Like her glimpse of the somewhat Dickensian looking study as she had followed Teddy through the hallway towards the kitchen. The books filling the bookcases inside had looked positively ancient and where the Winters' study next door had a computer set upon the desk, the Lupins appeared to have favoured a candle, quill pen and inkwell. It was rather charming, Carrie supposed, if a little on eccentric side. Not the sort of eccentricity that went with pink hair or brightly coloured hats, however. She suspected that Mr. Lupin was responsible in some way, it was probably more his thing.

But if that was the case, Carrie mused as she watched the clouds drifting along above the rooftops, was it not also odd that two people such as Teddy's parents were...well, exactly that? They were not the most likely of married couples, Carrie could not imagine them having a terribly great deal in common with one another. She was unsure of their ages, too. Whilst she would guess that Mrs. Lupin was certainly a good few years younger than Mrs. Winters' thirty-five years, Mr. Lupin's age was somewhat of a mystery to the child. Whilst observing his stirring of their drinks in the kitchen, as Teddy chatted to him about their plans to visit the Potters (who, from what Carrie could gather were friends of the family), Mr. Lupin had appeared to be not much older than Carrie's own father. The many lines upon his face seemed to disappear when he laughed to hear of Teddy's plans to eat extra helpings of Ginny's trifle until he was fit to burst, leading to Carrie suspecting that he was perhaps far younger than he first appeared.

But certainly no as young as his wife, of that Carrie was sure.

Another thing that Carrie was sure of was the fact that, when it came to the Lupin family, there were very few things that one _could_ be absolutely sure about.

After five minutes Teddy drained his mug and reached to wipe away the remnants of hot chocolate from his mouth with the back of his hands in a somewhat determined manner, as if he had finally made his mind up about...whatever he had been thinking.

"I'm sorry about earlier." he said quietly, glancing towards the house, where Carrie could just about make out Mr. Lupin through the kitchen window, busy making their lunch. "I must have made you feel awkward, I'm sorry about that, it's just...well it makes me sad."

Carrie wanted to ask what was so sad about a stack of papers, but instead found herself automatically assuring him:

"That's okay." After all, it was the polite thing to say, but Teddy shook his head vigorously.

"No, it's not okay. It's not okay at all..." His voice seemed suddenly higher than usual and Carrie looked sideways at him to find that his expression had become oddly tense, as if he were resisting the urge to cry.

Why on earth would he want to cry? Of course he was right to a degree, the little incident had made Carrie feel awkward, but it was over now, it hadn't been too bad, surely not bad enough to cry over...

Carrie returned to staring at the fluffy white clouds in the sky and pretended not to notice. It was the easiest way to deal with the situation, she supposed, at least until she could decide why what seemed to have been such a minor incident to her was a decidedly major incident to Teddy.

"I hope Dad doesn't tell Mum what I said." Teddy went on, still gazing at his father through the window. "She'll be dead angry with me if he does. We're not supposed to sulk about it, you see. That's the Golden Rule."

Carrie wasn't sure that she did see at all, but she simply nodded her head in a suitably vague manner.

"You have no idea what I'm talking about." Teddy observed, reaching to pick at the grass with distinctly sad smile. "I'm just babbling...I don't even know why...why I'm telling you. It's just...it makes me sad..."

Unable to grasp any real meaning from his mumblings, Carrie finally turned to fix him with a questioning look.

"What makes you sad, Teddy?" she asked him kindly, though she was not entirely sure she wanted to know the answer. After all, this did rather sound like the sort of conversation one was supposed to have with a best friend, or a sibling, somebody you had known for a long, long time. The sort of person who knew all your secrets.

Not the boy next door who you barely knew at all.

Apparently Teddy didn't seem bothered about the length of their acquaintance, for he sighed heavily and admitted:

"Dad. He makes me sad."

Carrie had absolutely no idea what to say to this revelation, so she joined him in his absentminded assault on the blades of grass by their feet.

"Oh." she mumbled uncertainly, and Teddy hurriedly said:

"Well not Dad exactly...more...people's attitude towards Dad. He lost his job, you see, that stupid boss gave him the sack and he's not gotten work since. It's been the same for almost a year. Every single day, he just...just sits there with those bloody application forms and I just think...what's the point? He sends them off and all he gets back are those bloody rejection letters...I've read some, they're dead rude to him about it, too! I told him to give up the other day, it's a total waste of time! Mum got angry with me then, she said I shouldn't be so negative and that it wasn't anything to do with me anyway."

Carrie looked over at the window again, frowning deeply.

"That's terrible!" she exclaimed as Teddy reached to grab a fistful of grass and yank at it angrily. "I can't imagine why anybody wouldn't want to give your dad a job!"

"Nobody would ever want to give him a job."  
"Why on earth not?"

Teddy paused to wipe his hands upon the front of his jeans, staring over at the window thoughtfully.

"He's...disabled." he decided, nodding in self approval at his explanation.

Carrie lifted her mug to her lips in an attempt to hide her surprise. Indeed, Mr. Lupin did not look disabled in the slightest, though she supposed there was often more to people than met the eye.

"There are laws against that sort of thing, you know." she announced, attempting to push aside her curiosity. She would not, absolutely would not, ask Teddy in what way was his father disabled. She could practically hear her mother's voice in her head: you asked what? "That's discrimination, it's not allowed..."

Teddy gave a surprisingly grim laugh.

"You try telling the Ministry that."

Carrie pursed her lips together and stared down at her cup. She had no idea what Teddy meant by the Ministry, but found that she had no real desire to ask. It was as though the temperature in the garden had dropped a few degrees.

"Can I use your bathroom?" she asked, because she really had no idea what to say, and a moment to himself might just drag Teddy out of his sudden mood. She barely waited for Teddy to respond, scrambling to her feet and heading for the back door, making an effort not to run.

Some minutes Carrie had finished in the bathroom and was just beginning her descent of the stairs, when the front door to the hallway below was flung open, making the girl jump, hurriedly grasping hold of the bannister to stop herself from taking a tumble.

"I'm home!" Teddy's mother announced loudly to the house at large, as she practically skipped in a distinctly unorthodox manner across the threshold, throwing her jacket in the direction of the coat stand and hurrying down the hallway towards the kitchen. "And guess what, Remus, you're never going to believe this..."

Carrie hurried down the stairs and peered around the bannister to see Mrs. Lupin come to an abrupt halt in the kitchen doorway.

"...What in Merlin's name happened here? Honestly, love, it looks like somebody let a horde of pixies loose in..."

"Shhh, Dora!" Mr. Lupin hurried across the kitchen and, coming to a stop in front of his wife, reaching to put his hands upon her shoulders, his expression making her sober.

"What's wrong?"

"No pixies!" Mr. Lupin instructed, voice dropping to a murmur that Carrie could only just hear. "No pixies, no Merlin, nothing like that!"

"Oh, right..." Mrs. Lupin mumbled, glancing around her husband somewhat searchingly. "Why..."

"Teddy invited the neighbors' daughter round for lunch..."

"He didn't!"

"She's gone to use the bathroom..."

"You let him?"

"She'll be down any moment now..."

"Oh Merlin..."

"Dora!"

"I mean...oh...god...?"

"Yes. Oh god."

"Oh god. Oh god, oh god..."

"Calm down Dora, it's fine."

"Is it?"

"Yes."

"Yes, you're right. I'm sure it'll be fine." Mrs. Lupin slumped forward, her face buried in her husband's shoulder as he put his arms around her. Her apparent panic seemed to have subsided, there was a long pause, until the pink haired woman muttered through clenched teeth:

"I'm going to kill him."

Mr. Lupin chuckled quietly under his breath, one hand reaching to smooth her disheveled hair. He immediately ceased his amusement when his wife hissed:

"This is not even the slightest bit funny, Remus! I mean it! If something were to go wrong...! I like it here! I'm not bloody moving again! I'm sick of it..." she trailed off into silence, sighing heavily as Mr. Lupin's arms fell to his sides. "I'm sorry love," she mumbled as he turned to head back towards the kitchen table. "I don't mean...well...it's not your fault. I just figured it would be different here, that we wouldn't have to worry..."

"You're overreacting." Mr. Lupin said as he began to set plates down upon the table. "It's not a problem. Let Teddy make a new friend if he wants to. He's not stupid, he'll be sensible. So, what were you saying before? What won't I believe?"

Carrie hurriedly backed up the stairs a little, before heading back down them again, footsteps bordering on stomps to announce her arrival, forcing a smile upon her face as she walked through the kitchen, smiling in greeting at Teddy's mother. As she escaped into the garden she felt somewhat unsettled by the bright, cheery reception the two adults had given her, especially when she was clearly not as welcome as she had first believed.

As Teddy ran towards her from the other end of the garden, a rather oddly shaped red ball in his hands, Carrie struggled to mirror his enthusiasm for a game of catch.

_This isn't right_, the girl thought to herself miserably. _I want to go home..._


	5. Smugglers and MI6

_Note: On the occasion of my mother's birthday, because surprisingly enough she has read this fic._

_And also on the occasion of **Kuroida** kicking my metaphorical behind when it comes to speedy updates. Here is my feeble retaliation! =)_

_I would like to take this moment to point out that I am aware of what paganism is. I am also aware of what it isn't. As a matter of fact one of my best friends is a pagan. Also, I have nothing against punks, in fact we've been known to get on well! Any misconceptions are simply the assumptions of a fictional ten year old child. Indeed, Carrie being wrong about them is very much part of the plot! _

_Thank you to my lovely reviewers! I had no idea that this fic would be so popular! So thank you for your kind words, I hope you continue to enjoy it!_

_Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor am I making any profit from this piece of writing. I also don't own James Bond or The Simpsons._

**5: Smugglers and MI6**

Some week after having lunch at her neighbors' house, Carrie Winters was skipping up the driveway of her house, a bundle of envelopes tucked under her arm, when out of the corner of her eye she spotted Teddy Lupin sat upon his doorstep, a broad smile upon his face as he waved at her in greeting. For a brief moment, Carrie considered turning a blind eye to his presence, keep on skipping until she reached the pavement where she could turn her back on him entirely and head for the postbox at the end of the street. However, having resorted to this sort of strategy on three occasions already in the past seven days, Carrie supposed that a fourth occurrence might seem more than a little rude. There were only so many times that one could fail to spot a person, especially one who had a habit of waving and calling out your name. And after all, she didn't want to upset Teddy at all, she simply wanted to avoid him.

The evening of the day that she had visited the Lupins, Carrie had sat down in her bedroom with notebook and pen and made a long list of exactly what she thought was strange about them. At first she had wondered why she was doing it, for what did it really matter? Some people were not normal, that was just the way things were, who was she to stick her nose into their business and wonder why?

But then again it did matter. It mattered a lot. Carrie liked them, she needed to understand them, just in case liking them turned out to be a really bad idea. What if they turned out to be connected to some sort of secret criminal organization, or an extreme religious group? She didn't want to get drawn into anything dodgy like that, or risk being brainwashed over dinner one evening.

She had a whole host of different theories, from MI6 to animal smuggling, but Carrie soon decided that her first two ideas were the most likely. She had drawn lines under the noted words _Merlin_ and _Pixies_ and, after some consideration, decided that they could fit in to both scenarios. They could be code words, she had mused, because surely secret organizations had such things. How else could they remain totally secret? Or perhaps they had been used more literally...maybe they believed in the existence of pixies and other such make-believe and magic. Maybe Merlin was a religious figure, a bit like Jesus. Some religions believed in that sort of thing, didn't they? Maybe they were pagans, who stood around in forest clearings and made potions, hugged trees and pretended to cast magic spells, Carrie had seen them on The Simpsons.

Teddy had said that his mother was in the police...that would be good cover for a criminal, wouldn't it? Somebody on the inside, like that double agent in that Bond film...and maybe Mr. Lupin wasn't looking for a job at all, maybe those papers had been something else entirely! No wonder Teddy complained, maybe they didn't want him to get involved, maybe all their secrecy was starting to get to him. Carrie had thought from the start that Mrs. Lupin hadn't looked like the average parent, and she was reminded of Kirsty Clarke's mother whom she had often seen in the playground back when she had been at primary school. Mrs. Clarke had had unconventional hair too, it had been acid green in some parts, and shaven off completely in others. She'd had a nose ring and, according to the playground gossipers, had only appeared in the playground halfway through term because she had spent the previous weeks in prison for some form of theft.

And yet, for some reason, religion seemed far more plausible. It could explain the lack of technology, some religions were against such things after all. And they could be reclusive, against outsiders. Perhaps Mr. Lupin had felt he had no choice but to be welcoming, after all Christians were supposed to love thy neighbor, surely most religions preached the same in some form or another...

Mrs. Lupin had said she was sick of having to move. What if that was about religion, too? Like the Jews the man on the History Channel had been talking about when Mr. Winters had been watching television that evening a few nights back.

Carrie had gone to ask her parents about the persecution of the Pagans, but Mrs. Winters had been busy chatting to her sister on the telephone and Mr. Winters had simply snorted into his mug of coffee and told her that these days there was no such thing.

Despite this, Carrie was convinced that paganism, or something similar, was her best guess at figuring out what was going on next door. She simply had no idea what she was supposed to find out next, or indeed how she should go about finding it. After all, Carrie knew next to nothing about paganism. She had decided it best to avoid the neighbors for the time being, until she could make some sort of decision about whether or not she should still like them.

Until, that was, the morning when Mrs. Winters sent Carrie up the road to post a bundle of letters to inform friends and relatives of their change of address.

At the sound of Teddy calling her name, Carrie came to an abrupt halt and slowly turned to face him, wondering exactly what she was going to say as he scrambled to his feet and ran across the strip of grass separating their driveways.

To her surprise, however, the words left her lips before she could really register that she had said them.

"You're not wearing a hat!"

"Why should I be wearing a hat?" Teddy asked as he came to a halt in front of her, eying the stack of stamped envelopes curiously.

"Well...I don't know...your allergies, I suppose..."

Teddy's mop of pale brown hair shook as he let out a shout of laughter. Carrie was surprised that his hair was so long, she had never noticed it sticking out the bottom of his hats, she had assumed his hair to be much shorter.

"Allergies? That's a new one!" the boy laughed, causing Carrie to frown deeply.

"I don't know what you mean." she informed him somewhat indigently, no longer content to simply sweep her confusion under the carpet. "Your mum told me the doctor told you to wear hats because you have allergies!"

"Well she was lying, obviously." Teddy told her, but she didn't really see what was so obvious.

"Why would she do that?" she asked, adjusting her hold upon the letters and fixing him with a searching look.

"_Because_," Teddy said, reaching to pull the letters from her grasp before setting off up the pavement, causing Carrie to hurry after him, "people like you aren't supposed to know all about people like us."

"And what kind of people are you?" Carrie asked, resorting to jogging to keep up with his bounding steps.

"Mum and Dad say I'm not allowed to tell you."

"Why not?"

"Because you might tell people about us, and that would be bad."

"Why?"

"Because it's against the rules, Mum might get in trouble at work and we'll have to move house again."

"The rules? Like...like the law...?"

"Yeah."

"What law?"

"I'm not allowed to tell you."

As they came to a halt in front of the post box and Teddy began to carefully post each envelope through the hole, Carrie stared at him, struggling to draw any conclusions.

"Are you a Pagan?" she asked at last, because she didn't know what else she could say.

Teddy glanced sideways at her with a quizzical look.

"A what?"

"A Pagan."

"No...I don't think so."

"What about your Mum? Or your Dad?"

Teddy frowned in consideration.

"I don't know if they're a pagon..."

"Pagans."

"...pagans. I could ask them, I suppose."

"You don't know what a pagan is, do you?"

"Nope." Teddy admitted distractedly as he pushed the last envelope through the hole and glanced back down the street towards their houses. "Quick," he whispered suddenly, reaching to grab hold of her elbow and setting off around the corner at a run, "let's go this way!"

"Where are we going?" Carrie asked, stumbling after him as they ran a few yards up their neighboring street and, after the smallest of pauses to check the coast was clear, across the road and onto a grassy area where there stood a large oak tree. Teddy pointed at a makeshift swing that had been attached to one of the branches.

"I'll push you." he offered as he let go of her arm and ran around the back of the swing, reaching to hold it steady for her.

Carrie sat down upon the swing and reached to hold tightly onto the two lengths of rope at either side.

"You know," Teddy told her as he pulled her backwards a few steps before giving her a firm push forwards again, "before you moved in there was an old couple living in the house next to mine. They didn't have any children, I used to think I was the only person my age on the whole street."

"I saw some bikes outside one of the houses across the road yesterday." Carrie told him, swinging her legs back and forth as she swung.

"I know," Teddy replied as he gave her another firm push. "That's Mr. and Mrs. Norman's house. They've got four sons, but they're all older than us." He paused then, as if wondering if to go on, before telling her: "I never made friends with anyone in the old houses. We didn't stay long enough half the time, and then I'd just think...what's the point of making friends? We'll only end up moving again. But now...now you're here..." He stopped pushing and after a while Carrie felt the swing begin to lose momentum. "Carrie?" he mumbled eventually, and Carrie barely heard him. "I want to tell you the secret."

Carrie put her feet down, scuffing her shoes against the grass until she came to a halt. She shifted until she was sat sideways upon the little wooden seat so that she could look up at him.

"But I can't." he went on, expression deadly serious. "Not...not on purpose, at least."

"But you could tell me...by accident?" Carrie asked slowly, though she wasn't sure exactly how one could say something like that by accident.

"Yes," Teddy mumbled. "By accident on purpose."

"Okay..."

"The truth is, Carrie, I have to wear hats to hide my hair."

"Oh?"

"Yeah...because when I have a cold, or hay fever that makes me sneeze...something happens that people like you aren't meant to see."

"Right..." Carrie attempted to keep a straight face. Clearly, she thought as he stared down at her, expression still serious, this boy was stir crazy.

"And now I've stopped sneezing Mum said I could take the hats off. But...if I were to sneeze...well, you'd find out the truth, or at least a bit of it. And it wouldn't be my fault. I can't help it if I have to sneeze."

"Right..." Carrie said again, nodding her head slowly as if she understood him.

"You think that's silly don't you?" Teddy observed, cheeks reddening a little. "I suppose it is a bit...but...well I can't just tell you. For one thing you wouldn't believe me, and I don't want to lie to my parents about it later."

"Accidentally on purpose is the same as on purpose, Teddy." she pointed out, for this was the only part of the conversation that she truly understood.

"No it isn't." Teddy insisted rather hurriedly, glancing around them as if he were worried that somebody might see them.

"It is, because..."

"You're wrong, it isn't."

Carrie stared at him for a long moment, a deep frown creasing her brow.

_He knows I'm right_, she thought to herself as he stared back at her in a somewhat challenging manner. _He just wants to pretend. That's Teddy for you, always pretending..._

_Just agree with him, then he'll...well...do something..._

"Okay then," she finally agreed. "It isn't."

There was a long pause as Teddy scrunched up his face a little, twitching his nose in an attempt to make himself sneeze.

"You get hay fever?" Carrie asked at last, and he gave a small nod, face still scrunched up in effort. One hand grasping the swing to steady herself, Carrie leant down to grasp a handful of grass, giving it a firm yank until it came free in her hand. She proceeded to throw the grass at Teddy's face.

For a moment he froze, nose still twitching...

And then it happened.

Teddy Lupin sneezed.

And at that moment, within a blink, his hair turned a dazzling shade of turquoise, right before Carrie Winters' eyes.


	6. The Unbelievable Truth

_Note: Thank you to those who managed to review despite my silly mistake...I'm sure the readers of The Dark Creature's Child were suitably baffled! Sorry about that everybody, I really shouldn't update my fics when I'm half asleep..._

_It's my parents birthday today, but I am determined to still update. After all, **Kuroida** is on the warpath..._

_I hope this chapter is okay...I'm not sure whether it turned out well or not! Here goes nothing..._

_Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor am I making any profit from this piece of writing._

**6: The Unbelievable Truth**

_Thud!_

_Ouch!_ Carrie Winters thought to herself as the back of her head collided with the ground, her legs askew in the air as she slipped backwards off the swing in shock.

"Carrie! Are you okay?" Teddy Lupin's voice called, and quite suddenly his face appeared above her, framed by the bright blue sky.

His face and his bright turquoise hair...

That's...that's impossible, Carrie thought, mind swimming as a dull ache blossomed throughout her head. When Teddy offered her a hand to help her up again, she ignored it.

"You...you...how did...how did you do that?"

"It's magic." Teddy told her, rolling his eyes as if it were obvious.

Carrie wanted to shake her head and tell him that there was no such thing as magic, but her head felt much too sore to move and before she could say a word a voice called from over the road:

"Teddy!"

Teddy reached to grab hold of Carrie by the shoulder and helped her to sit up, before looking over towards the source of the call.

"Yes?" Carrie heard him shout back, and the girl slowly turned her head to see Mrs. Lupin striding across the road towards them. Today, Carrie noted, her hair was blonde.

"I need you to come inside, love." Teddy's mother announced, offering Carrie a brief glance and smile.

"You just said I was too noisy and you wanted me out the house..."

"I need to pop out and fetch some...stuff for Dad, so I need you to go inside and keep an eye on him, make him a cup of tea. Okay?"

"Oh, okay then."

"I'll only be half an hour, if that. Give Molly a shout if you need help, won't you?"

"Yes Mum."

"Great. Remember, put lots of sugar in his tea."

As Mrs. Lupin turned back and began to head back away again, Teddy reached to pull Carrie onto her feet.

"C'mon, you can help me." Teddy announced, setting off back towards his house, dragging a dazed Carrie after him. The girl glanced back at Mrs. Lupin's retreating back before asking:

"Does she...does she...you know..."

"Of course she does. That's where I get it from."

"Right...and...and your dad...?"

"No, he's different."

"So he's...normal?"

Teddy laughed as they rounded the corner onto their street.

"Oh no, definitely not. None of us are normal, not even for people like us."

"People like you...who...who do magic...that means you're what? Witches?"

"Mum's a witch, yeah. Only girls are witches."

There was a pause as Carrie's senses began to come back, she began to block out the fact that she had just seen his hair change colour, there was no such thing as magic, there had to be some sort of reasonable explanation. At last she sniggered.

"Does she ride around on a broomstick and turn people into frogs?" she asked with a chuckle, only to laugh even more when Teddy asked:

"Why would she turn people into frogs? That would be horrible!"

"She doesn't look like a witch." Carrie told him, wondering just how long this trick of his was going to last.

"Why not?"

"Witches are ugly, they have horrible warts all over their faces and yellowy teeth and they smell of cabbage."

Teddy gave a shrug.

"Well I suppose Mum could be like that if she wanted."

"What are you and your dad then?"

"We're wizards."

"Like Gandalf?"

"Who?"

"Never mind. Teddy?"

"What?"

"This is ridiculous."

Teddy came to a halt and turned to face her with a questioning look.

"Why would you think it's ridiculous?" he asked, sounding bordering on hurt. "How can you not believe me? I just turned my hair turquoise!"

Carrie eyed the offending hair disbelievingly.

"Well you...you did something to it, yes. But it wasn't magic, it can't be..."

Teddy gave an indigent snort and folded his arms moodily across his chest.

"You're such a muggle!" he cried, turning back and stomping his way up the pavement. For a long moment Carrie simply stared after him as he turned and began to make his way up his driveway.

"What's a muggle?" she shouted after him, resisting the urge to laugh again.

"You're all the same!" Teddy accused as he pushed open the front door, giving it a frustrated kick. "You won't even believe what you see with your own two eyes!" He turned in the doorway to look back at her, expression still sour. "Well?" he called impatiently. "Are you coming or not?"

Carrie stared at the turquoise haired boy in silence, her mind once again racing.

Witches and wizards? Magic? No, surely not...

But then again, Carrie mused as she looked the Lupin house up and down searchingly. Why not? Why shouldn't there be witches flying around on broomsticks and wizards casting magic spells? Why shouldn't there be strange little boys who could turn their hair bright turquoise?

_What in Merlin's name happened here? Honestly, love, it looks like somebody let a horde of pixies loose in... _

Yes, why not? It would fit just as well as her other theories, better, in fact...

It was still utterly ridiculous, of course, utterly barmy, crazy, mental...

Wonderful, exciting, mind boggling...

And so it was that Carrie Winters ran up the driveway of her new neighbors' house and, after the smallest pause, stepped across the threshold and into the Wizarding World.

"Dad?" Teddy called loudly as he kicked off his shoes and padded to the bottom of the stairs. "Where are you?" When there was no response he went to glance into the living room. "There you are." he said, voice dropping to a whisper, and with that he headed for the kitchen.

Carrie removed her shoes and carefully placed them up against the wall. She followed Teddy up the hallway, pausing to glance into the living room, eyes widening at the sight that met her eyes.

Mr. Lupin was lying upon the sofa, head cushioned by a mound of pillows, a blanket tucked around him as he slept, eyes hidden beneath heavy, dark lids.

Carrie fled up the hallway and into the kitchen, where Teddy was setting a heavy old fashioned kettle upon the stove.

"Your dad looks really sick!" she exclaimed worriedly, bemused when Teddy merely gave a shrug.

"He's fine."

"He doesn't look fine, he looks like...like he belongs in the hospital or something! What's wrong with him?"

Teddy reached to open a cupboard and grabbed a large mug from a it's bottom shelf.

"He'll be fine by tomorrow, it's nothing really."

Carrie watched him as he made the tea for another long moment before guessing:

"Is it to do with him being disabled?"

"Yeah...it is."

"How is he disabled?" When Teddy did not reply she wondered: "Is it a wizard thing?"

Teddy gave a snort and his expression darkened as it had done the day they had drunk hot chocolate in the back garden.

"Not really, no." he muttered as he began to shovel heaped teaspoons of sugar into the mug of tea, digging down into the sugar bowl with far more force than was necessary. He gave the tea a half hearted stir and paused, staring down at the steaming mug thoughtfully. "I'm going to tell him what happened." he decided, nodding to himself as he abandoned the tea spoon upon the counter top and picked up the mug. "Before Mum gets home and totally freaks out about it."

"You don't think he'll be mad too?" Carrie asked nervously, following him out into the hallway.

"Of course he'll be mad too," Teddy said, seemingly unconcerned. "But don't worry, he's not going to lose his temper."

"He won't?"

"I doubt it...I mean, if I were him I don't think I'd have the energy, would you? Dad!" He raised his voice as they entered the living room, striding over to the sofa and reaching to give his father's shoulder a firm shake. Carrie paused just inside the doorway, hands clasped together nervously before her, lips pursed together worriedly.

What were Teddy's parents going to say, she wondered, when they found out he had broken the rules? Teddy had described them as laws earlier...was it like shoplifting? Or something like that?

Carrie could not even imagine what her parents would say if she were ever to break the law, they would be utterly appalled, unimaginably furious...

Carrie held her breath.

"Wake up, Dad, I've made you a cup of tea!" Teddy announced loudly as Mr. Lupin's eyes opened sluggishly. "Mum's gone shopping or something." the boy explained, voice suddenly much quieter now that he had his father's attention.

Mr. Lupin's eyes drifted shut again and for a moment Carrie thought that he'd fallen back asleep.

"Carrie's here, Dad."

At this news, Mr. Lupin was quick to open his eyes again and heave himself up into a sitting position. He accepted the mug of tea with a mumble that Carrie could not decipher. Despite being preoccupied with her nerves, she was more than slightly surprised to watch him down the scalding hot liquid in a few huge gulps. He proceeded to flop back down onto the sofa with a heavy sigh.

"Put the kettle on again, Ted." Carrie heard him murmur hoarsely, and Teddy prized the mug from his hands and said:

"Sure, Dad."

"You're a good boy."

Teddy gave a small smile before admitted:

"No I'm not."

It seemed to Carrie that it took a long moment for Mr. Lupin to process these three simple words, before he mumbled:

"Why, what have you done?"

Teddy drew in a deep breath and announced with shocking confidence:

"Carrie saw my hair change colour when I sneezed. She knows what we are."

There was a long, painful silence. Mr. Lupin's eyes remained tightly closed, expression unmoving. Carrie wished he would say or do something, anything, for the uncertainty was killing her.

"It's okay though, Dad, she won't tell on us or...or anything...you won't...you won't make us move again, will you?" At his father's lack of response, Teddy's confidence seemingly evaporated and he reached to put a hand upon his father's arm. "You won't, will you Dad?"

Mr. Lupin finally opened his eyes and once again pulled himself up into a sitting position.

"Run upstairs and fetch my cloak." he instructed Teddy, expression still unreadable. As he swung his feet down to the floor and made to stand, Teddy's grip upon his arm tightened.

"Why..."

"Hurry up."

Carrie took a small step backwards towards the hallway as Mr. Lupin stood up and reached to snatch up a long, thin wooden object from the coffee table...

_Was that a magic wand?_

"Where are you going?" Teddy asked worriedly, hurrying after his father towards the door. Carrie was quick to back up against the hallway wall. Mr. Lupin strode past her and set about pulling on a pair of brown leather shoes.

"I'm going to go to the Ministry," he muttered, and at last Carrie thought he sounded angry, "before the Ministry comes to us. See if I can get hold of Kingsley or Harry or somebody...they might stop the Obliviators knocking on our door..."

Part of Carrie wanted to ask what an Obliviator was, but whatever it was it sounded scary, she wasn't sure she truly wanted to know. Besides, she was rather glad to be ignored for now, the constant us of names and things that made no sense that she had been listening to ever since she had stepped out of her front door that morning was beginning to be overwhelming. She simply listened and tried not to wonder too much about anything. It would surely give her a headache if she did.

"...if they get involved they'll probably tell us to sell up. They've already warned your mother about us living around muggles once, they don't do second warnings..."

"That's not fair!" Teddy complained as Mr. Lupin set about straightening his disheveled clothes. "If we can't live around muggles because the Ministry doesn't like it, and we can't live around wizards 'cause they don't like it...where are we supposed to live?"

"My point precisely." Mr. Lupin muttered and, sigh impatiently, he drew out the strange wooden stick from his pocket and gave it a little flick.

There was a ruffling sound and then, to Carrie complete and utter shock, something came flying down the stairs, across the hallway and into Mr. Lupin's waiting hand.

The muggle watched numbly as the wizard pocketed the magic wand and threw the cloak around his shoulders.

"I think you should wait until Mum gets home." Teddy said hurriedly as Mr. Lupin reached to pull open the front door. "She'll freak out if you manage to splinch yourself trying to apparate to London. You're not looking so healthy, you know Dad."

Mr. Lupin stepped out onto the doorstep, glancing around his surroundings which were deserted, save for a cat that was sitting upon the wall two houses up.

"This is the Ministry we're talking about, Teddy." he reminded his son flatly. "They don't do waiting."

And then, as Carrie took a few steps towards the front door, peering over Teddy's shoulder at Mr. Lupin, mind still consumed by the fact that she had just watched a man make a cloak fly down a staircase, there came a loud cracking noise, causing Carrie to give a small shriek of alarm, heart hammering in her chest...

It was only as she drew a deep breath to try to calm herself that Carrie Winters realized that Mr. Lupin seemed to have disappeared.


	7. Acceptance

_Note: Here we are again! Thank you to everybody who has reviewed! I hope you enjoy this chapter! I am not sure when I will update next...it could be a while! So, enjoy it while you can! =)_

_Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor am I making any money from this piece of writing. _

**7: Acceptance **

Carrie Winters dropped down onto the sofa in her neighbors' living room, before looking up and staring at the boy stood in front of her, bewildered.

"I have...questions." she announced after a sizable pause.

For the first time since he had watched his father disappear out of the front door, Teddy Lupin grinned.

"I bet you do!" he cried, clapping his hands together in amusement.

"This isn't funny, Teddy." Carrie told him, folding her arms firmly across her chest. "At least...I don't think your dad thinks it is."

"On days like this Dad doesn't think anything is funny..."

"I don't mean that sort of funny!"

At Carrie's snapping, Teddy seemingly sobered. He dropped down onto the carpet, crossing his legs and folding his hands into his lap, fixing her with an expectant look.

"Right..." Carrie sat straighter and attempted to order her thoughts, deciding to start from the beginning of the whole bizarre sequence. "So...so that thing you're dad had...the stick thing...?"

"It's a wand." Teddy supplied, smiling at her widening eyes.

"Right...so...wizards and witches use wands to do...magic?"

"Most of them, yes. Some of them can do it without a wand, or without speaking. But that's tricky."

"Right. And...what's the Ministry?"

"The Ministry of Magic. It's our government. My Mum works there," Teddy grinned again, chest swelling somewhat proudly as he said: "She's an Auror." At Carrie's blank expression he added: "That's a dark wizard catcher, to you."

"Like the wizard police or something?"

"That would be Magical Law Enforcement...the Aurors do the more dangerous stuff."

"Like the army?"

"Sort of."

"Okay...so...what's an Obliviator? It sounds scary." Carrie attempted to keep her expression neutral, her tone light-hearted. She didn't want Teddy to know that this particular question had her feeling bordering on afraid. She wondered if Mr. Lupin had considered just what his conversation with Teddy would do to her nerves. She suspected not.

"The Obliviator Squad are there to make sure muggles don't find out about us. They modify their memories to make them forget stuff."

The casual way in which Teddy delivered this frightening fact only served to alarm Carrie more than ever.

"M...modify their memories?"

"Yeah, it's just a spell, doesn't hurt or anything. The muggles wake up and think something completely different happened, they don't remember a thing. It's pretty clever..."

"That's what's going to happen to me? I'm going to...to have my brain...magicked into...into thinking I never met you? They'll mess with my head? What if...what if they do it wrong, what if I forget everything...?"

"Well that's why we have trained Obliviators to do it." Teddy explained, seemingly oblivious to her complete mortification. "They're dead good at it, it doesn't go wrong too often..."

"Too often?"

"...I mean Dad could do it, or Mum, but they aren't really meant to, only the experts are allowed. Can't just have people obliviating random muggles left right and center! Don't worry though, Mum and Dad know quite a few people at the Ministry, not to mention the Minster for Magic. If Dad gets hold of him in time the Obliviators won't show up, you won't forget anything."

Despite this reassurance, Carrie did not feel much better, in fact she was starting to feel a little sick. Until then she had not really considered the possibility that magic could do such dangerous, intimidating things. She had been all too keen on the image of a white rabbit being pulled out of a hat...

_I've been sat around a kitchen table_, she thought numbly, _eating sandwiches with some people who could...who could..._

_Who could what? If they can alter a person's memory, who knows what else they are capable of!_

As she leaned back in her chair and drew her feet up onto the sofa, hugging her knees to her chest, Carrie supposed that if the Lupins had wanted to do something ghastly to her they probably would have done so by now, there had certainly been plenty of opportunities for them, and they had always been so nice to her...

_Forget it and move on_, she told herself, drawing in a deep breath and moving onto her next question.

"Your dad just disappeared into thin air..."

"That's called apparation. It's a way of transportation, it's quite difficult to get the hang of so you have to pass a test."

"Like driving?"

"I guess."

"And...what did you mean he might splinch himself?"

"That's what happens when you do it wrong; you might leave part of you behind by accident..."

"Leave part of you behind? Like...like being cut in half or something?"

"Yes, it's pretty messy! That's what happened a few years back, you see. Harry sent a note to say Mum had landed herself in St. Mungo's...that's our hospital, by the way...so Dad dragged himself out of bed to go over there to see if she was okay, only he was dead ill at the time and he managed to splinch himself when he apparated. Dead gruesome, it was! Took them ages to sort him out, he was in the hospital longer than Mum was! Mum went utterly ballistic, she said if he ever attempts anything like that again when he's ill she'll hospitalize him permanently!"

Carrie had absolutely no idea what to say or think about this little story; it was quite a hard thing to imagine and quite frankly she was not sure she really wanted to. The idea of severed limbs littering the Lupins' driveway made her feel more than a little nauseous, she she decided to move swiftly on.

"When you said wizards don't like you living around them...does that mean there are like...wizard places? Just for wizards?"

"There are a few, yes, but most places have muggles as well as wizards."

"How come wizards don't want you living around them? Is it because you're different, like you said before?"

Teddy reached to pick at fibres in the carpet, eyes downcast.

"They don't mind Mum and me." he mumbled, frowning deeply. "It's Dad they don't like."

"I can't imagine anybody not liking your dad, he's really nice! Why don't they like him?"

"Oh for all sorts of reasons. They're scared of him, for one..."

"Scared of him?" Carrie chuckled at the mere thought. She was sure that she had never met anybody more approachable and less threatening than Mr. Lupin. Of course she did feel a little apprehensive given what Teddy had been telling her about the potential of magic; but surely that would only concern..._muggles_, surely wizards and witches would not feel that way. "That's ridiculous!" the girl exclaimed, slapping a hand down upon the arm of the sofa.

"It is a bit." Teddy muttered, sounding strangely uncertain, and Carrie was just about to elaborate on why she thought the notion was so silly when they heard the sound of the front door opening. Teddy immediately leapt to his feet, Carrie scrambled off of the sofa, and they ran to the hallway.

Mrs. Lupin was heading for the kitchen, carrying a large cardboard box somewhat awkwardly under one arm. As she passed them a disgusting, overpowering smell engulfed Carrie's nostrils and she reached to clamp a hand to her mouth, just in case it made her gag.

"Do you have any idea how disgusting that is, Mum?" Teddy wanted to know as his mother dumped the box upon the kitchen table and headed to rinse her hands in the sink. Before she could reply, the boy added: "Carrie's here."

Mrs. Lupin glanced over her shoulder at the two children who had come to a halt in the doorway, smiling cheerfully.

"Hi Carrie! How're you today?" she greeted as she snatched up a tea towel with which to dry her hands.

"I'm very well thank you, Mrs. Lupin." Carrie answered automatically, and Teddy's mother's eyes came to rest upon her son as she abandoned the tea towel and headed back towards the hallway.

"Made Dad that cup of tea, did you?" she asked him as the two children stepped aside to let her pass them.

"Yes Mum."

"Great, love. Where is he?"

Carrie and Teddy watched her stick her head round the sitting room door and, upon finding it empty, head for the staircase.

"He's gone out." Teddy finally admitted once she was halfway up the stairs.

"Mm, fresh air will do him good." Mrs. Lupin said approvingly, turning to head back down again, only to come to an abrupt halt upon the last step when Teddy announced:

"He's apparated to the Ministry."

As a crowded mix of emotions from panic to astonishment fought to imprint themselves upon Mrs. Lupin's face that was fast contorting in what Carrie thought was an alarmingly furious expression, the muggle wondered which the witch was finding more terrible to deal with: the fact that her son had just spouted a loud of wizard talk in front of a supposedly clueless muggle, or the fact that her husband had done something so completely and utterly reckless. Mrs. Lupin seemingly forced herself into at least a degree of composure before asking in a voice that seemed an octave higher than it ought be:

"And why would he have done that, love?"

There was a long pause as Teddy took a deep breath, ready for a second parent's fury, before explaining:

"Because he wants to get hold of Kingsley or one of the others to stop the Obliviators showing up and modifying Carrie's memory, because she saw my hair change colour...and I told her about us being magical."

There was a soft thump as Mrs. Lupin dropped down to sit upon the stairs, burying her face in her hands.

"I knew it!" Carrie heard her hiss furiously to herself into the palms of her hands. "We should have moved to the bloody Outer Hebrides!"

"It's okay, Mum, Carrie won't tell anybody, will you Carrie?"

Carrie shook her head definitely. Besides, she thought to herself as Mrs. Lupin's hands came to rest in her lap, who would ever believe her?

It was at that moment that she noticed that Mrs. Lupin's hair was a vibrant shade of red.

Had it been like that earlier? Surely not, Carrie would have remembered...

"Well I hope not," the witch said, her gaze upon the girl somewhat piercing. "Because if she does it'll be bye bye Auror Department and hello Wizengamot Official Inquiry..."

"She won't tell!" Teddy insisted, just as there came a muffled, odd popping noise from somewhere outside and Mrs. Lupin got to her feet and went to fling the front door open. The two children followed, glancing round her, only to find the driveway empty.

A long few minutes later two figures stumbled around the corner, one propped up by an arm around the other's shoulder. As a rather odd looking blacked haired young man wearing a set of scarlet robes..._yes_, Carrie confirmed, _robes_...half dragged Mr. Lupin towards the door, Carrie heard Mrs. Lupin sigh heavily.

"Well this certainly brings back memories...REMUS LUPIN, YOU BLOODY IDIOT...!"

"Keep your voice down, Dora, half the street will hear you." Mr. Lupin called as the other man ducked free of his arm and took a step backwards, gesturing to Teddy's father somewhat elaborately.

"Crisis averted and back in one piece!" he announced with a grin as Mrs. Lupin stormed out of the door towards them. "Honestly, Tonks, give the man some credit, he's not a complete moron!"

Mrs. Lupin shot the man a withering look before throwing her arms tightly around her husband, muttering something into the folds of his cloak as he patted her comfortingly upon the back.

"It's fine, I went to Kingsley's office..." he began, only for the other man to interject:

"Actually Remus I think, _technically_, you _fell into_ Kingsley's office..."

"_Technically_, Harry, that's the same thing, and _technically_, Dora, I didn't pass out so you can't scold me..."

"I think you'll find I can."

"...and I told him what's happened and he sent about a dozen memos off to the Obliviators announcing that he was holding some sort of staff meeting..."

"Ha!"

"...he says he'll have the whole incident covered over by tea time."

Mrs. Lupin drew back from her husband, positively grinning.

"Merlin, I love Kingsley!" She declared, clapping her hands together in relief. She stepped sideways to give Harry a one armed hug, giving Mr. Lupin a sharp tap on the shoulder as she hissed: "Now for the love of Merlin, Remus, go and lie down!"

Mr. Lupin rolled his eyes at her, but she had already turned back to give Harry a proper hug asking cheerfully:

"How're Ginny and the kids?"

It was strange, Carrie mused, to watch them strike up a conversation about something so normal, and yet she was reassured by the mundane nature of the chat that ensued as Mr. Lupin left the other two and headed for the house. As he reached the front step, Teddy launched himself over the threshold, throwing his arms around his father, positively beaming.

"You did it!" the boy cried excitedly, and his father smiled faintly and murmured:

"Of course I did."

Carrie watched Mr. Lupin disentangle himself from his son and, once she had stepped aside, head for the living room. As he disappeared through the doorway, Carrie quite suddenly found herself with a question. She turned to walk purposefully to the living room, suddenly sure that she no longer needed to feel shy.

Mr. Lupin had already sat down upon the sofa and was in the process of reaching for a book.

"Why?"

At the sound of her voice he looked up at her, his face was a rather lifeless shade of grey and yet his eyes were warm and bright. For a moment she was distracted from her question as she mused once again that there was surely no way that anybody could find him frightening.

"Why did you stop them?" she asked, taking a step further towards him. "Why would you do that? It's risky for you, having me know what you are. Why didn't you just let the Obliviators deal with me? Or why didn't you just...just zap my brain the moment you found out?"

"To be honest, I don't really do a great deal of brain zapping, myself." he smiled, resting the book that he had retrieved upon his knees. At her expectant stare he told her: "I did what I did, Carrie, because you're a nice, well mannered young lady and I am glad that my son has made friends with you. I would like him to grow up to be an open minded and accepting person, and he won't end up that way if I tell him to steer clear of muggles and only mix with people of his own kind. We have boundaries enough in life without people throwing up a few extra ones."

And so it was that Caroline Winters was accepted into the weird and wonderful world of wizards; and she knew at that very moment, as Mr. Lupin offered her one last smile before opening his book and beginning to read, that her life would never be the same again.


	8. Those Summer Days

_Note: Thank you to everybody who has waited patiently for me to update this story, and a extra big thank you to those of you who left such kind messages regarding my grandfather. As it stands, he is still in hospital and how well he is seems to change on a daily basis. He does, however, appear to be out of immediate danger, so I should be updating a little more often! _

_I hope you all enjoy this chapter! _

_Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor am I making any profit from this piece of writing. _

**8: Those Summer Days**

The last few weeks of the summer before she started secondary school were some of the most fantastic and exciting weeks of Carrie Winters' life. Every day without fail she would rush to finish her breakfast before hurriedly pulling on her shoes by the front door and escaping outside. And every day without fail, she would find Teddy Lupin sat waiting for her upon the front step of his house. Most days Teddy would ask his father if Carrie could stay for lunch, and come the end of the first week the two children arrived in the Lupins' kitchen to pose the question yet again, only to discover that Mr. Lupin had already set an extra place at the table. Finding herself completely immersed in the family life of wizards, Carrie soon gave up on asking constant questions about the countless magical occurrences or words that she did not understand; she was sure that if she bothered to open her mouth every time something astonished her Teddy would soon become quite irritated by her relentless questioning. Instead she simply let strange events and bizarre conversations simply pass her by as if they were ordinary, puzzling things out as they came or waiting for some sort of explanation to present itself. She never did quite figure out what a boggart was; though she suspected it was some form of pet, and she had no idea who or what a Mad-Eyed Moody was, only that Mrs. Lupin seemed to find quoting he/she/it positively hilarious, especially given its usefulness in startling her husband whilst he attempted to read the newspaper, often causing him to slop tea or coffee into his lap.

The pictures in the newspaper _moved_. Carrie had been delighted to notice this quite early on. She had soon discovered that when it came to most things in the Lupin household nothing stayed silent or immobile for very long. Figures in framed pictures upon the walls and sideboards all seemed as alive as the people they represented, waving, dancing and laughing as Carrie stared at them. She'd stepped into the kitchen one afternoon to fetch herself a glass of water, only to discover dishes washing themselves in the sink, a mop slopping soapy water over the tiles and a steaming cup of coffee upon the table that was stirring itself with a spoon. It took her a long while to get used to random objects whizzing down the stairs or across rooms into people's hands, and she was pretty sure that she would never get used to faces or indeed entire people appearing in bursts of emerald flame in the living room's fireplace. The first time she had seen Mrs. Lupin's head appear in the..._floo_...Carrie had let out a shriek of alarm and had leapt backwards to hide behind Mr. Lupin's chair, much to Teddy's amusement.

Then there were the things that Teddy went out of his way to show her, from wizard chess and gobstones to wizard sweets and a gruesome cupboard full of various things that he claimed were ingredients for potions. Carrie had asked to see Mrs. Lupin's broomstick, more as a joke than anything else, only for Teddy to disappear upstairs and return a few minutes later with none other than the true article, a wide grin upon his face at her slightly speechless gaze upon it. It had taken a long moment for Carrie to force herself to give a careless shrug.

"Well that could be any old broomstick!" she had pointed out, hands upon her hips. "How do I know it's a proper magical one?"

Teddy had expressed disbelief that, after seeing so much magic, she could not simply take his word for it, but he nevertheless headed for the back door, broomstick clutched purposefully in both hands.

"I'll show you!" he'd announced somewhat smugly, only to be halted in his tracks by a voice calling from in the living room.

"Theodore?"

Teddy's face had immediately fallen and Carrie had followed him back down the hallway, his feet scuffing the carpet as they went.

"Yes, Dad?" he mumbled begrudgingly when they had come to a halt in the living room doorway.

Mr. Lupin did not bother to look up from the papers that he was examining.

"You weren't considering flying your mother's broom out in the garden in broad daylight in front of all the neighbors, were you?" he asked as he set aside one lot of papers in favour of another. Teddy had shuffled his feet with a small scowl, but had claimed:

"No, Dad."

"I'm glad to hear it." Mr. Lupin had told them brightly, his smile causing Teddy to look yet more sour still. A long moment of silence silently told the children that they were free to go, but Teddy had only taken a couple of steps towards the back door again, broom still clutched purposefully in his hands, before they were stopped again.

"Theodore?"

Teddy had given an exasperated sigh before calling:

"_Yes_ Dad?"

"You wouldn't dream of lying to me, would you?"

There was a long pause.

"I never lie to you, Dad." Teddy had called hurriedly, offering Carrie a raised eyebrow.

"I'm glad to hear it." his father had said again.

They were just about to make a run for the garden when they were halted yet again.

"Theodore?"

Teddy stomped back to the doorway.

"YES, Dad?"

From his seat upon the sofa, Mr. Lupin had held out his hand expectantly.

"Hand it over."

And so it was that Carrie failed to see Teddy whizzing around the garden on a broomstick, but she did gain a fair idea of what it would be like from the large poster that was stuck upon his bedroom wall. She allowed Teddy to talk her through the basic rules of Quidditch, which seemed to her to be a rather dangerous and yet wonderfully exciting sport. She was delighted when he promised to take her to a professional match one day, just as long as she promised to cheer on his favorite team.

It was not long before it occurred to Carrie that she was not the only one who was seeing lots of new, weird and wonderful things. On many occasions they went to Carrie's house and she was amused to see Teddy become enthralled by the large television in the living room. He had attempted to play upon her brothers' games console (with not much success, Carrie had beaten him five games to one), and he had spent an entire lunchtime babbling incoherently to his parents about the wonders of the Internet. Carrie had known the conversation to be futile from the moment Mrs. Lupin had frowned down at her plateful of sandwiches and remarked:

"I don't know, Ted, all these..._cursors_ moving about all over the place...sounds a bit dodgy if you ask me."

Luckily Carrie hadn't had to hide her laughter too much, because Mr. Lupin, seemingly equally as amused, had chosen that precise moment to choke on his orange juice.

Whilst Mr. Lupin attempted to recover from his spluttering, Mrs. Lupin had revealed a very interesting fact.

"You know," she'd said, pausing to lean over and give her husband a firm smack upon the back, seemingly achieving nothing besides yet more discomfort, "Your Great Grandma Tonks was a muggle, Teddy."

"Really?" Teddy had asked as Mr. Lupin got abruptly to his feet and, escaping his wife's reach, went to pour himself a glass of water.

"Yeah," Mrs. Lupin had confirmed through a mouthful of cheese and chutney sandwich. "She was completely batty..."

"You can't call her batty," Mr. Lupin had interrupted, having finally manged to halt his coughing. "You hardly even knew her."

"I visited her all the time...at Christmas...birthdays...sometimes..."

As his mother had trailed off rather uncertainly, Teddy had asked:

"Why was she batty?"

Carrie hadn't really been interested to hear why Great Grandma Tonks had been "batty", she had been much more focused on the fact that she had been a muggle. It had gotten Carrie wondering the one question that had never left her mind for the rest of the summer holidays:

How did one go about becoming a witch?

This had not been a question that Carrie had been willing to pose to any of the Lupins, she was not entirely sure why.

Or rather she was entirely sure, she just didn't want to think about it.

Carrie Winters could think of nothing more brilliant or exciting or utterly fantastic as becoming a witch. But she didn't want to ask how one did it, just in case she got an answer that she didn't want to hear. What if they told her it was impossible for a muggle to learn magic? What if it couldn't be done?

Carrie could not comprehend the disappointment, so she simply chose not to ask.

She didn't ask Teddy how one went about getting a place at a wizarding boarding school, either, but that did not stop her asking Teddy all sorts of questions about Hogwarts. Quite frankly she was not quite sure what to make of Britain's school of magic, she only knew one thing: Teddy was the luckiest boy in the world, and she wished she could go there with him.

In the final week of the holidays, Carrie had found herself less concerned with magic, and more concerned with her own lack of it. She had tried not to become preoccupied on this divide between herself and her new best friend, she told herself that it didn't matter, that it was that very divide that made being friends with Teddy so very fun. But on the day when she stepped out into her front garden one morning and found that Teddy was not waiting for her as usual, Carrie was to find herself feeling lonely for the first time in weeks.

At first Carrie assumed that Teddy had simply not finished his breakfast yet, and so she sat down upon her step and passed a long few minutes watching cars drive by and waving at the people who lived over the road as they got into their car to drive to work. But eventually she grew bored of waiting and decided to go and knock upon the Lupins' front door.

It was opened by the strange looking man with the messy black hair who had brought Mr. Lupin home the day Carrie had found out about the existence of magic. Behind him in the hallway, a couple of small boys, both with dark hair, appeared to be having some sort of wrestling match, both shouting at one another at the top of their lungs.

Carrie had felt quite taken aback at the noisy strangers, Teddy was nowhere to be seen, nor were either or his parents.

"Hi Carrie," the man greeted, and the muggle girl felt quite alarmed that he knew her name, though on second thought she supposed he probably would do. She tried her best not to mumble as she replied

"Hi..." _Henry? Harold? Harry?_ She couldn't remember his name...

"Do you want to come in?" the man..._Harry, it was Harry, she was sure of it_...said, stepping aside to let her pass. "Teddy's in the garden with some of the others."

Carrie eyed the chaos within apprehensively. The boy with black hair had just extracted what appeared to be a magic wand from the pocket of his jeans and seemed about to poke the other boy in the eye with it.

"James Sirius Potter!" a voice cried from the living room, and a red haired woman appeared in the doorway, her expression so utterly furious that both boys froze, eyes wide in alarm. "Give me that wand!" the woman demanded, reaching to snatch the offending object the the older boy's hand. "How many times do I have to tell you, this isn't a toy! And the noise you two are making...! It's a miracle your Grandad Arthur's eardrums haven't burst!"

The older boy, James, gave an exaggerated pout as the other, who Carrie would guess was his younger brother squirmed to get free from him. Both boys scrambled to their feet.

"Can we play Quidditch?" James asked, and the woman raised a disbelieving eyebrow.

"I think Al's more than a bit too little to be whizzing around your aunt and uncle's garden on a broom, James..."

"He can be the referee!"

As Harry let out a soft snort of amusement, the woman shot him a disproving look.

"I don't think so, James..."

"I know the rules, Mummy." the smaller boy, Al, informed the woman, his voice the model of seriousness and pride, causing James to bounce up and down upon his feet excitedly.

"Besides," their mother continued, "I don't think Quidditch is such a good idea round here, what with all the muggles. I suppose you'll have to ask your Uncle Remus, but the number of muggle repelling wards and spells we would have to..."

"UNCLE REMUS!" the two boys bellowed simultaneously as they turned and thundered off down the hallway towards the kitchen, leaving their mother to stare somewhat wearily after them.

Carrie had definitely heard the words _muggle repelling wards_ _and spells_, however.

It was not for a long moment that she realized that Harry was staring at her somewhat expectantly.

The muggle felt her face tinge an awkward pink and for the first time in weeks she felt as if she really didn't belong amongst witches and wizards.

"I um...I..." Carrie tried to ignore the sudden urge she felt to burst into tears. "Tell Teddy..." she decided, shuffling backwards a few steps. "Tell him...I said hi. And um...I'll see him...another time."

And then, without waiting for a response, the muggle turned and fled back to her own house.

Carrie had retreated to her bedroom and gone to peer out of the window overlooking her back garden. The Lupins' garden had looked surprisingly empty, in fact Carrie could not see Teddy or any of the "others" out there as Harry had indicated. She stood, nose pressed to the glass for several long minutes, wondering where on earth all the witches and wizards had gone, before she began to notice a dull aching of her eyes and she turned her back on the window, reaching to rub her eyes...

The aching stopped.

Bemused, Carrie turned back to look towards the Lupins' garden. After a short while she felt her eyes began to ache again, yet it faded as soon as she turned away.

_Muggle repelling wards and spells_, she thought to herself dejectedly, shuffling over to sit upon her bed with a sigh. Both of her brothers had gone into town with Mr. Winters just after breakfast, and Mrs. Winters had shut herself up in the study to do something on the computer. The house was perfectly still and silent. Carrie wished the twins would come home and begin a noisy game of football in the garden, or that her mother would turn on the radio in the kitchen, or the television in the sitting room. She could not stand the silence, not when she knew that next door a large group of witches and wizards were having what seemed to be some sort of party, and maybe even flying around the back garden on broomsticks playing Quidditch. The very thought made Carrie feel completely isolated and lonely. Again she wondered if she would ever fit into Teddy's world. At that moment she strongly suspected not.

Carrie's eyes came to rest upon the photographs that she had tacked to the wall of her bedroom, countless pictures of her friends back in Tillbury; still faces all crammed together to fit into the frame, laughter upon the roundabout at the park and striking poses as they modeled Mrs. Winters' high heeled shoes and red lipstick. Such silliness had all seemed like such good fun, Carrie recalled, and yet she could not help but think that Teddy's fun and games were more exciting by far. She had stuck a photograph of her and Teddy on the edge of the collage, just above her pillow. Once Mrs. Lupin had snapped the picture of the two children sat under the tree in Teddy's garden, the bright red Quidditch ball upon Carrie's lap, Teddy had asked his mother if she could make the picture move.

As it was, the picture was as still as all the others, because Mrs. Lupin had refused her son's request on the basis that Carrie could not possibly stick a magically moving photograph on her bedroom wall. But Carrie didn't care, as far as she was concerned the picture could look as ordinary as it liked, it was still crammed full of magic. The ball, for one thing, and Teddy's hair...

_Gosh_, the girl mused as she stared at their grinning faces, _I'd give anything to be a witch_.

Carrie did not see Teddy until the following afternoon, when she spotted all three Lupins returning from a shopping trip of some sort. Teddy was doing an odd, waddling walk as he attempted not to drop any of the countless bags that he held in his hands, whilst Mr. and Mrs. Lupin were just behind him, a large trunk carried between them, a couple of boxes balanced on top that looked slightly more secure upon their precarious perch than Carrie thought entirely natural.

Carrie herself had been waiting beside her father's car for the rest of her family, and when Teddy had attempted to wave at her, sending a number of bags flying out of his hand, spilling a number of books and a quill pens out over the Lupins' driveway, the muggle had not held back her laughter.

Mr. Lupin had paused to reach into the pocket of his jacket, drawing out his wand, and at that moment Carrie heard footsteps coming from the hallway of her house.

Mr. Lupin raised the wand...

Just as the twins bounded out of the front door and into the driveway, their parents just behind them.

Carrie drew in a deep, panicked breath, ready to shout a warning to the wizard, only when she looked back at him the wand had seemingly disappeared from his hand.

And the dropped bags were sat by Teddy's feet, their contents back where it was supposed to be.

"Good morning!" Mrs. Winters had called politely to her neighbors, and Carrie had watched a little numbly as both of Teddy's parents had turned and offered bright smiles and wished her a good morning in return.

It was a long moment before Carrie finally snapped out of a daze and called to them:

"We're going to buy our things for school!" She glanced over her shoulder at her two brothers who were squabbling over seat belts, heart sinking at the sight of them. "D'you want to come?" she asked Teddy somewhat pleadingly.

Teddy wasted no time in dumping his bags before his front door and, with only a brief glance at his parents, bounding over towards the car.

"Can Teddy come with us, Mum?" Carrie asked, having quite forgotten to ask.

"Of course he can," Mrs. Winters said, and with that she stuck her head into the car and began to attempt to persuade the twins to stop arguing and make room for one more.

It amazed Carrie just how excited Teddy could become about things as simple as school bags and pencil cases, especially when they weren't even for him. The two children had had great fun picking out matching stationary and Carrie had been amused by her friend's bemusement with the scientific calculator that she was required to buy for Maths class. Carrie had selected a fluffy turquoise pencil case because Teddy had commented that it looked rather like his hair, and then he had sat patiently outside of the changing rooms whilst Mrs. Winters set about buying each of her children their new school uniform. Carrie rather liked her new uniform, she thought the maroon blazer along with the black jumper and matching striped tie looked rather smart, and the tartan skirt was much prettier than the boring old grey that she had worn at primary school.

"What does your school's uniform look like?" she'd asked Teddy whilst they waited outside of the shop for Mrs. Winters to finish paying.

"That depends, really." Teddy told her, swinging the bagful of stationary that he was holding back and forth absentmindedly. "Everybody wears black school robes, but then your ties and crests depend on what House you are in."

"What House are you going to be in?" Carrie asked him, and Teddy frowned deeply.

"I'm not sure yet, you don't find out until you get there. There's a Sorting Ceremony, you have to put the Sorting Hat on and it decides what kind of person you are and puts you in the right House. I'd like to be in Gryffindor, though, like my Dad."

"What's so great about Gryffindor?"

"Everything." Teddy announced, and when Carrie did not seem enlightened he explained: "Gryffindors are supposed to be the brave ones. I think that would be good, you know, being brave."

"Did your Mum go to Hogwarts? What House was she in?"

"Mum's a Hufflepuff. People take the mickey out of Hufflepuffs, they say they're the thick ones. But that's a load of rubbish, really, I mean my Mum's clever enough to be an Auror. She was the youngest one to qualify in years, you know."

"What are Hufflepuffs like?"

"They're loyal. That's why Mum's one, Dad says there's nobody who was ever as loyal as Mum."

Carrie smiled, just as Mrs. Winters appeared and silently began to lead the way back up the street.

"I think I'd like to be a Hufflepuff." the girl decided, and Teddy nodded his agreement.

"I'd not mind being in Ravenclaw either," he said as they dropped back a few steps until Carrie's mother was out of earshot. "Ravenclaws are the ones with all the brains. The only one I don't think I'd like much would be Slytherin."

"Why not?"

Teddy's features darkened.

"All the Dark wizards and witches come from Slytherin." he told Carrie in an undertone, and she wondered if he were trying to sound ominous in order to unnerve her. "Slytherins are cunning, and most of the pure bloods end up there. They're not all bad, mind you, Mum says my gran was one and Dad says he'd be proud of me if I ended up there...which is weird really. Gryffindor and Slytherin have been massive rivals ever since the school was founded, they hardly ever get on. Uncle Ron – he's a Gryffindor too – he says if any of his kids end up in Slytherin he's going to disown them." the boy gave a laugh, only to halt abruptly at the horrified look on Carrie's face. "He's only kidding!" he cried, much to her relief. "I think...anyway, the Slytherins sleep down in the dungeons, I'd much rather Gryffindor or Ravenclaw Tower!"

Not for the first time, Carrie found herself falling in love with the idea of going to school in a castle. An actual castle, with dungeons and turrets! She wondered if Hogwarts had a moat, too...

_Gosh_, she thought as they climbed into the back of her mother's car, _I'd give more than anything to be a witch! _

It was evening before Teddy left for Hogwarts that Carrie found herself finally posing the dreaded question to one of the Lupins. They had just finished eating their dinner, to which Carrie had been invited, and the two children were busy polishing off the last of the chocolate cake whilst the adults were engrossed in what was becoming a increasingly heated debate.

"No way!" Mrs. Lupin cried, voice bordering on a shout as she dumped the dinner plates into the sink and rounded on her husband with what Carrie thought was a deeply offended expression. "We've been over this, Remus! He's going to be in Hufflepuff, like me!"

"He's a Gryffindor!" Mr. Lupin half sang in a purposefully infuriating manner. "It's obvious, Dora, when he was born his hair was bright red, that's clearly a sign..."

"Rubbish!"

"And when he was little he used to run about the garden making roaring noises like a lion..."

"That was supposed to be a DRAGON! Besides, only smug gits like you end up in Gryffindor, Remus..."

"I'm not a smug git...not yet, anyway. I might be, though, when he writes home telling us he's in MY House..."

Mrs. Lupin snatched up a damp cloth and flung it across the room at him, only for it to hit the wall behind with with a wet slap. Mr. Lupin retreated to his seat at the table and Mrs. Lupin exclaimed:

"Oh bugger this! I'm going to run a bath!" And then she stalked out of the room, her family's laughter ringing in her ears, which seemed to signal the end of the argument.

Whilst Teddy had gone to stack the last of the plates in the sink and put the kettle on for a cup of tea, Carrie had fiddled apprehensively with her hair for a few minutes before finally deciding to ask her question.

"Mr. Lupin...?"

Teddy's father was just summoning cups from one of the cupboards, but Carrie was by no means as impressed by this little show of magic than she usually was.

"Carrie?"

The muggle drew in a deep breath.

"How...how do you...become a witch or wizard?"

Over by the kettle, Teddy's head bowed and Mr. Lupin set his wand carefully down upon the table and folded his hands in his lap.

"Nobody becomes a witch or wizard, Carrie." the wizard admitted gently. "They have to be born that way."

Carrie's heart began to sink.

"How do you know? I mean...if you're born with magic? Could I be...?"

Mr. Lupin had already begun to shake his head halfway through her question, and Carrie trailed off into a disappointed silence.

"You're muggle through and through, I'm afraid." he told her, and she began a sudden fight to stop tears seeping from her eyes. "All wizarding children in Britain are offered places at Hogwarts via letter, that's the confirmation, you see, if you're magical."

"I'm glad you're a muggle, Carrie." Teddy had announced, hurrying over to pat her comfortingly on the shoulder. "You'd not be half as interesting if you weren't one! I like you just the way you are!"

Carrie had held back her tears when her friend had made this kind and somewhat strange assurance, because she had suddenly become preoccupied with wondering how on earth being a boring old muggle could be deemed as interesting, by a wizard, no less.

But the following morning, when she had stood at her living room window and watched Teddy and his parents leave the house, the adults once again carrying Teddy's trunk between them, the tears had come before Carrie could even notice they were there. They streamed continuously down her cheeks and, despite attempting to remind herself that she would see Teddy again at Christmas, and that he had promised to write to her all the time (by owl, which would be exciting!), the Lupins had barely reached the end of their driveway before Carrie had begun to sob into the sleeves of her cardigan.

And when Teddy had disappeared around the corner and off up the street, Carrie had been sure that he had taken all of her happiness with him.


	9. Oakhurst Manor

_Note: Once this story is finished I am considering writing a new version of it, but from Teddy's point of view! So, what do you say? Yay or Nay? _

_Thank you to everybody who reviewed! It's nice to know that people are still reading and enjoying this fic! _

_Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor am I making any profit form this piece of writing. _

**9: Oakhurst Manor**

Carrie Winters hated Oakhurst Manor School.

She disliked it before she even set eyes upon it, and when she climbed out of the car along with her brothers on her first day in Year Seven, she disliked it even more.

As muggle secondary schools went, Carrie mused dully as she made her way through the big, shiny black gates, dragging her feet as she walked, Oakhurst looked like a rather pleasant place. It certainly looked a whole lot posher than the dull, flat roofed concrete buildings that had made up the high school back in Tillbury. Oakhurst consisted of only two buildings: a huge red bricked, rather grand old building and a small, far more modern looking building set off to one side that from what Carrie could recall her mother telling her was the sports hall. Sandwiched between the two buildings was a concrete playground, much like the one that had been at her primary school, except it seemed to be almost half the size. A lawn fronted the main building, broken up by the long driveway that lead from the gates up to the main entrance.

Carrie shuffled her way up the driveway, flinching as a football suddenly flew across her path, narrowly avoiding hitting the girl in the side of the head. Immediately she found herself surrounded as a crowd of boys thundered past her in hot pursuit of the ball, shouting and shoving in their attempts to get ahead of one another. Carrie froze, eyes screwed shut in alarm and waited for them to pass. So consumed by her glum thoughts, she had found herself quite unaware of the crowds of children that were dotted around the lawn. She shoved her hands into the pockets of her blazer and set off again towards the stone steps that lead to the main doors, quickening her pace as she went.

At the bottom of the steps, Carrie paused and looked up at the main school building. The large double doors at the entrance were framed by a couple of vast, pearly white Georgian pillars, the school's crest displayed proudly above. Carrie supposed that if she had had Teddy stood beside her, ready for his first day at Oakhurst too, she would have commented that it looked like a very grand sort of place, and wasn't it exciting to be starting a new school; but as she was, standing all on her own staring up at the building, Carrie thought it all looked a little intimidating.

From somewhere inside, a bell began to ring, and at once streams of children came hurrying past her and up the steps. Carrie shuffled sideways until she was out of their way, looking back out over the lawn in search of any newcomers who were looking as lost as she was. She spotted a number of children she would guess to be her age...they already seemed to be pairing themselves off or forming groups of friends. Carrie wondered if she ought march over to the nearest trio of girls and introduce herself, since that seemed to be the done thing, but she felt a little too shy.

"Year Seven!" a man's voice bellowed from behind her, and Carrie turned to see a teacher stood at the top of the steps, she was surprised that he managed to stand still and not get swept away by the tide of children rushing past him. "Over to the playground, all of you please!"

Carrie adjusted the bag upon her shoulder and, drawing in a deep and determined breath, began to stride over towards the playground, eying the other students as they too gravitated towards the concrete. She was just beginning to think that everybody had already made at least one friend when she spotted a girl who, like Carrie, was on her own. She looked, Carrie thought as she quickened her pace in order to catch up with her target, somewhat different from most of the other girls that Carrie had seen since she had stepped through the school gates that morning. She had black, messy cropped hair that fell into her eyes in a such a haphazard way that Carrie wondered how she could see where she was going, and as Carrie drew closer she could hear a soft jingling noise from the clinking of numerous bracelets crammed onto the girl's skinny wrists. Carrie was just wondering what the teachers were going to say, for the school's dress code specifically forbid the wearing of jewelery, when she noticed that there were already three holes in the girl's tights and there appeared to be some sort of foliage stuffed into one pocket of her blazer...

_SMACK!_

Carrie felt something collide with her shoulder and before she could react, she found herself sprawled upon the ground, staring bewildered up at the sky, a dull throb aching down one side as her head began to spin. Heart racing, she made to scramble back to her feet, only for a furious face to invade her vision, causing her to freeze.

"Why don't you watch where you're going?" A tall, towering girl with bushy brown hair and what seemed to Carrie to be unnaturally thick, fish-like lips demanded, and Carrie mumbled an apology as she hurriedly got to her feet...

Something caught her by the ankle and with a gasp, Carrie found herself falling yet again, this time flat on her face. Laughter ringing in her ears and face hot and stinging from the impact, Carrie screwed her eyes shut and kept very still, salty tears seeping through her eyelids and streaming in prickling trails down her face. She wished that her big brothers had not been whisked away by their Head of Year upon their arrival to be shown to their form rooms. They'd sort bullies out, she thought miserably...

The laughter was fading. Cautiously, Carrie lifted her head up a fraction of an inch, and she could just make out a group of girls walking off towards the main entrance of the school.

"I could put a curse on them, if you like." a voice from behind her offered, and Carrie slowly pushed herself up into a sitting position and turned to look at the speaker.

It was the scruffy girl with the twigs in her pockets.

"What?" Carrie mumbled a little thickly, glancing back at the bullies retreating backs.

"I said I could put a curse on those bullies, if you like." the scruffy girl repeated, seemingly unfazed by Carrie's bemusement. "I'm really good at that kind of thing, you know. Once I put one on my little cousin because he ate all of my Easter eggs, and the next day his goldfish died."

When Carrie simply stared at her, the girl leaned forward a little, squinting down at Carrie, nose wrinkling.

"You're bleeding, you know." she pointed out conversationally. "And you look a bit silly, sitting on the ground like that. You should get up before everybody sees you."

Carrie was about to point out that, since she had just been tripped up and had near on knocked herself out cold on the grass, it was really rather mean to say that she looked silly, when the girl offered her a hand and asked:

"What's your name?"

"Carrie...Caroline Winters."

"Cleopatra Clancy. You can call me Cleo. Come on, Carrie, get up! Everybody's waiting for us!"

Carrie allowed Cleopatra Clancy to help her back onto her feet.

"I bet you think my name's weird." Cleo guessed as they began to make their way over to the playground, Carrie's head throbbing as she pulled a tissue from her pocket and set about dabbing at the graze upon her forehead.

"I don't think it's weird." she told the other girl, and she wasn't lying. After all, Teddy's family and friends seemed to play host to a whole range of weird and wonderful names. Cleopatra seemed perfectly reasonable in Carrie's book.

"Of course you do, and you're right. But I like having a weird name. I think it sounds sort of...magical and mystical, don't you?"

"I guess..." Carrie mumbled as they came to a halt, having reached the outskirts of the crowd of new students. Cleo immediately rounded on her and, dark eyes somewhat piercing, asked:

"Do you believe in magic, Carrie?"

Despite her throbbing headache and her misery at how her first day at Oakhurst had started off, Carrie found herself with a sudden urge to laugh.

"Yes," she told Cleo with a note of absolute certainty. "Yes, I do."

Carrie was a little disappointed to find that she was not in the same form class as Cleo, but her form tutor, a history teacher named Mr. Clifton-Meyers, seemed to be friendly enough, and as he took their register, reading out the name of each member of 7CM, Carrie took a look at each of her peers and decided that they looked like an amiable bunch. They spent five minutes copying out their timetables into the back of their homework planners and Carrie had barely finished recording Fridays lessons before the bell rang and she found herself following the rest of her form out into the corridor, squinting down at her timetable searchingly, as Mr. Clifton-Meyers called after them with a reminder that the Year Eleven prefects would be on hand to help them find their classrooms.

First lesson on a Monday morning, Carrie discovered, was Geography with Mr. Holmes in classroom number 23. Glancing back at her form room and noting the sign above the door identifying it as classroom number 4, Carrie set off up the corridor, homework planner clutched firmly in both hands, counting off classrooms as she passed.

_5...6...caretakers' cupboard...7..._

Carrie's shoulder collided yet again with somebody and she winced, spinning around to mumble another apology.

"Sorry!" the other person beat her to it. "Wasn't looking where I was...oh Carrie, it's you! Gosh, you're making a bit of a habit of this, aren't you? What room are you looking for? We might be in the same class."

Reaching to give her sore shoulder a rub, Carrie offered Cleo Clancy an apologetic smile.

"I've got Geography in room 23." she told the other girl, and suppressed a gasp of surprise when her scruffy acquaintance reached to grab hold of her by the arm and drag her back up the corridor towards 7CM's form room.

"Me too!" Cleo enthused as she pushed her way past a group of girls who were clustered together outside of one of the classrooms, giggling at something on one of their mobile phones.

"Aren't we supposed to be going the other way?" Carrie asked as they rounded a corner and began to make their way up a flight of stairs.

"Nah, I asked a teacher, she said to go up here. You're gonna like Mr. Holmes, Carrie, my sister told me about him, he's really funny!"

"You have a sister?" Carrie asked, attempting to be discreet as she pulled her arm out of Cleo's iron-like grasp.

"Yeah, Bowie. She's in Year 10. And yes, that _is_ short for Boudicca...not that it suits her. Dad says I'm the wild child and she's the princess. Our parents are history nuts, in case you couldn't tell...here we are!"

Carrie, who had been busy staring at Cleo's pockets and wondering what exactly she kept in them, came to an abrupt halt and looked up, only to find that they were not outside of the Geography classroom at all.

"That's the girls' bathroom." she pointed out, only for Cleo to reach to push the door open.

"Yeah, I know. Come on, get in here, I want to show you something!"

Carrie glanced worriedly up the corridor.

"We'll be late for class if we're not careful..."

"So? It's our first lesson, Carrie, we can just say we got lost! Besides, we need to sort your hair out!"

Carrie frowned deeply.

"What's wrong with my hair?" she asked, reaching to finger the ends of her two plaits, as if to check that they were still there. But Cleo had already disappeared into the bathroom, and so, with a sigh, Carrie hurried in after her.

Once inside, she discovered Cleo stood over by the sinks, brandishing a comb in a somewhat triumphant manner. It was strange, Carrie mused, because Cleo did not seem to be the sort of girl who would bother carrying a comb around in order to keep her hair neat and tidy – indeed Carrie was not even sure that Cleo had so much as glanced in the mirror since getting out of bed that morning.

"Come here, then!" Cleo said impatiently, and Carrie reluctantly shuffled forwards and at last took a look at her reflection in the mirror.

"Oh!" she moaned, squinting miserably at the large, ugly graze upon her forehead. "I look ridiculous!"

"We can fix that!" Cleo assured her cheerfully, offering her the comb. "You just need to comb your hair across to hide it!"

As Carrie set about undoing her plaits and altering her hair, Cleo set about rummaging through her school bag and after a few minutes of searching she produced a small plastic tub, reaching to thrust it under Carrie's nose.

"You need some of this!" she announced, as Carrie finished arranging her hair and turned to look down to see what she was talking about. Carrie recognized the container as an old Vaseline tub, but the label had been torn off.

"What is it?"

"This," Cleo informed her rather proudly, "is my secret concoction!" she leaned forwards, lowering her voice conspiratorially as she told Carrie: "I made it myself, the ingredients have magical properties, I read about them on the Internet. Here! Try putting some on!"

Carrie looked down at the tub and when Cleo pulled off the lid to reveal what Carrie thought looked rather like a mixture of mouldy mushy peas and mud she struggled to keep a straight face.

"I think I'll pass, thanks..."

"No, seriously! It works! Just try a tiny bit, nobody will notice now you've changed your hair..." Cleo dipped her finger into the grotesque mixture and, before Carrie could duck out of the way, reached to push aside Carrie's hair and smeared it all over her forehead.  
"That'll do it!" she announced confidently, wiping her finger clean upon her skirt before replacing the lid and shoving the container back into her bag. "Come on, then, let's go before we're late!"

"I'll be right there." Carrie told her, hurrying towards the nearest cubicle. "I just need the toilet."

_Or, more specifically_, Carrie told herself silently as she locked the door behind her. _The tissue paper so I can wipe that disgusting stuff off of my face..._

By the time the bell rang at the end of the day, Carrie had begun to think that maybe school without her best friend wasn't going to be so bad after all. Lessons with Cleo promised to always be amusing, for it soon became apparent that she was absolutely obsessed with magic and witchcraft. It seemed unlikely that she could go more than one lesson without mentioning it in one form or another, be it some act of "magic" that she herself had performed, or descriptions of supposed potions that could turn people into different animals. Each time Carrie would struggle not to laugh, and was often tempted to admit to Cleo just how far she was barking up the wrong tree.

Carrie was looking forward to passing on these silly stories to Teddy, she could just imagine how utterly hilarious he would find them all.

Indeed, as she walked across the grass towards the school's gates, Carrie was feeling far more cheerful than she had done when she had arrived first thing that morning.

That was until she spotted a group of familiar looking girls stood clustered by the gates.

Carrie froze.

_They haven't seen me,_ she assured herself as she stood, staring at the bullies who were blocking her path,_ they definitely haven't seen me..._

Where were the twins? Surely they planned to walk their little sister home on her first day at school...

Carrie turned to scan the school grounds in search of her brothers, but Thomas and Timothy were nowhere to be seen.

_Perhaps I should wait for them, surely they'll be here soon, or the bullies will go away..._

Carrie waited.

And waited.

And waited...

_Come on_, she thought miserably as the stream of children heading out of the school began to diminish, but there was still no sign of her brothers.

_They must have gone without me_, she thought, stomach twisting into panicked knots. _Well, there's only one thing for it, then..._

Carrie drew in a deep breath, fixed her sights upon the pavement across the road from the school entrance, and began to walk.

_Keep walking, don't look at them, keep walking don't look at them, keep walking don't look at them..._

She had reached the gates...they would be right beside her at any moment...

_Keep walking, don't look at them..._

They seemed to be talking amongst themselves, she was going to make it, she'd been silly, they probably didn't even remember her...

_Keep walking, don't look at them, keep walking, don't look at..._

_CRACK! _

Carrie barely had time to let out a frightened shout as she felt a familiar weight lock against her ankle and she fell flat on her face yet again...

This time she hit the cold concrete pavement. Pain erupted through her nose as, like before, the bullies immediately broke out into hysterical, mocking laughter.

_Idiot!_ Carrie thought despairingly as she tasted something sickeningly like blood upon her lips. _You should have kept an eye on your feet..._

_Get up, get up, get up!_

Carrie scrambled back onto her feet and, ignoring her spinning head and throbbing nose, made a run for the far side of the street, not daring to look back at the group of laughing girls. She was vaguely aware of the sound of screeching brakes followed by a thunderous car horn and angry shout, before she reached the safety of the pavement. She turned and fled down the street as fast as she could manage, desperate to get back to the safety of her home.


	10. Nasty Little Buggers

_Note: Again, thank you to my kind reviewers! I'm not too happy with this chapter, but I hope somebody enjoys it..._

_Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor am I making any profit form this piece of writing._

**10: Nasty Little Buggers**

Head down and hand fumbling searchingly for her front door key in the inside pocket of her blazer, Carrie Winters stumbled hurriedly up the driveway of her house, heart still hammering in her ears.

She had to get inside. Right now...

"Wotcher, Carrie!"

Carrie ignored the greeting that was called to her, so focused was she upon her search that she barely registered that the voice was familiar. She had to get inside, sort herself out before her mother got home...what on earth were her parents going to say if they saw the state of her? And where was that stupid key? She started to check her other pockets...

"How was school? Did you have a good day?"

Not in that one...or that one...where was it?

"Carrie...? Are you okay, love?"

Finding all of her pockets void of keys of any sort, Carrie could only conclude that she had left them inside of the house. She aimed a frustrated, yet feeble kick at the front door, before slumping forward, forehead coming to rest against the wood with a sob.

Quick footsteps sounded from somewhere to her left and she felt a hand upon her shoulder.

"Carrie...?"

Carrie slowly straightened up and turned to regard her best friend's mother through despairing, watery eyes.

There was a long silence as Mrs. Lupin simply stared at her, eyes slowly widening in surprise before she finally muttered:

"Sweet Merlin..."

"Dora?"

Carrie gave a little jump at the hoarse, croaky voice that sounded from within the Lupins' house and Mrs. Lupin stared in shock at the child for another long moment before turning to shout over her shoulder:

"What?"

"You're going to be late for work!"

Mrs. Lupin frowned deeply as she turned back to Carrie, before reaching to put an arm around the child.

"Bugger work, Remus!"

"...What?"

"I said BUGGER WORK! I'm BUSY!" The witch offered Carrie a smile as she began to lead her across the driveways and towards the Lupins' front door. "C'mon Carrie, we'll sort you out, don't worry..."

Carrie found herself led into the house and up the hallway until they reached the doorway of the living room and through her tears the muggle was struck by an odd sense of de javu.

"You sit yourself down, love," Mrs. Lupin told her kindly, "and I'll be right with you. Don't worry about him, it's not contagious."

As the witch disappeared off up the hallway towards the kitchen, Carrie shuffled into the room, eying the wizard swathed in blankets who was once again lying upon the sofa, complexion that of the living dead. Her tears slowly beginning to subside as a sense of relief and calm began to still her nerves, Carrie drew in a shaky breath and managed:

"Hello Mr. Lupin."

Teddy's father's eyes opened sluggishly, just as they had the day Teddy had presented him with the steaming mug of tea, and it seemed to take a moment for his eyes to focus upon the girl stood in the middle of the room.

He blinked. And then he blinked again. Apparently satisfied that he wasn't seeing things, he threw the blankets from around him and sat bold upright in his seat, eyes widening just as his wife's had done outside a few minutes beforehand.

"What in Merlin's name..."

"Sit down then, Carrie." Mrs. Lupin's voice interrupted briskly from the hallway, and Carrie turned to find that the pink haired woman already striding into the room, a large green plastic container held under one arm. As Carrie obediently took a seat in an armchair, Mr. Lupin reached down to pick up a small corked bottle from the floor beside the sofa, one hand holding his forehead as he attempted to push the stopper free with his thumb. The cork came loose with a soft pop and the wizard was about to lift the bottle to his lips when he found it snatched from his grasp.

"Gimme that."

As Mrs. Lupin claimed the bottle and turned her back on him, coming to kneel before Carrie's chair, the wizard stared after her somewhat thickly.

"You can't give her that..." he protested halfheartedly, and Mrs. Lupin rolled her eyes.

"Shut up, Remus."

"But..."

"Remind me, love, who got an Outstanding in NEWT Level Potions?"

"You did..."

"And who got a Troll in their Potions OWL?"

"I didn't..."

"Liar. Go and put the kettle on, will you? If I'm going to be late for work I'm going to do it properly and squeeze in another cup of tea."

As Mr. Lupin heaved himself up onto his feet and began his stumbling course towards the kitchen, his wife reached to open the box, which appeared to be some sort of first aid kit. She rummaged around until she produced a small plastic measuring cup and Carrie watched in silence as she measured out a small dose of the potion from the bottle, before pressing it into Carrie's hand.

"You drink that and I'll see what we can do about that nose of yours."

Carrie eyed the cloudy liquid worriedly as Mrs. Lupin went back to rummaging through the box.

"What is it?"

"Triple strength solution of willow bark and dullroot. It's a pain killer...pain brutal murderer, actually...REMUS?"

"Yes?" Mr. Lupin's reply was faint and croaky.

"You do realize this is TRIPLE strength potion you've bought, don't you?"

"I'm not a complete moron, Dora."

Mrs. Lupin rolled her eyes.

"You could have fooled me!" she announced, and for the first time since the school bell had rang some half an hour earlier, Carrie smiled. The smile faded instantly when Mrs. Lupin scrutinized her bloodied nose and observed:

"That looks pretty broken to me."

Carrie could feel tears gathering in her eyes again as she watched Mrs. Lupin reach into a pocket and pull out her wand.

"Hey, don't worry!" the witch assured her confidently. "I can fix it, it'll be good as new! This is exciting, don't you think? Nobody's ever done magic on you before, have they? Are you ready?"

Carrie could not quite decide which she felt more: sudden excitement at this landmark occasion or total panic. Not waiting to decide which, she gave her head a small nod. As Mrs. Lupin raised the wand, Carrie failed to suppress the urge to close her eyes and, after a mumbled word, her nose suddenly seemed to feel very hot. Yet as soon as she had snapped her eyes open again, Carrie felt the sensation begin to dull and she reached with a hesitant hand to prod experimentally at her nose.

"Pretty as ever, I promise." Mrs. Lupin told her, reaching into the box to grab a handful of tissues before setting about dabbing the remainder of the blood from the girl's face. "Which is a lucky thing, face like that you were giving Remus a run for his money just then."

"Mr. Lupin doesn't look like he went twelve rounds with Mike Tyson." Carrie mumbled miserably, and she felt little amusement when Mrs. Lupin frowned in confusion and said:

"I dunno, he looks pretty hung over to me!"

As the witch set about packing things back into the box, Carrie tried to think of something to say, before Teddy's mother could ask her the dreaded question: _What happened?_

"Teddy says Mr. Lupin gets ill a lot." she mumbled, and the smallest of frowns creased Mrs. Lupin's brow as she agreed:

"Teddy's right, he does rather."

"How long has he been...getting ill for?" Carrie asked, and her heart sank when she was told:

"Remus has been the same since he was a child."

"That's dreadful..."

"That's _life_, Carrie love."

"What's wrong with him?" The question had left Carrie's lips before she could quite stop herself, and she immediately reached to put a hand to her mouth.

Mrs. Lupin rose to her feet, box in hand as she offered the girl a rather weak smile. Before she could give an answer, or indeed before Carrie could mumble an apology for sticking her nose in, Mr. Lupin appeared in the doorway, a trio of mugs levitating along before him. Each of the adults plucked one out of the air and the third came to hover just above Carrie's lap. She reached forward and carefully and wrapped her hands around it. The child was glad to have something to clasp hold of, for Teddy's parents both sat down upon the sofa and, as they both eyed her curiously, Mrs. Lupin said:

"So, do you want to tell us what happened at school today?"

Carrie supposed that this was the sort of conversation that she was supposed to have with her own parents, rather than somebody else's, but if she were honest she could not bear the thought of telling her mother and father about the bullies at school, and it seemed much easier to tell the Lupins instead. It was perhaps because over the last few weeks she had begun to view them as a second family of sorts, and yet they were different enough from real relations that she didn't feel a desire to shield them from her trouble.

"I fell over...a few times." she mumbled, finding that as soon as she opened her mouth she was suddenly a little less eager.

"Who pushed you?" Mrs. Lupin asked, and when Carrie simply stared at her in surprise she gave a small shrug. "I know all about falling," she explained, pausing to shoot her husband a challenging look as if daring him to say something. "I do it all the time."

Eyes fixed upon her shoes, Carrie told them all about her two encounters with the bullies that day and once she had finished she reached to dab at her eyes with the sleeve of her blazer, peering over at the two adults worriedly.

Mr. Lupin sighed heavily as he stared thoughtfully down into his teacup, and Mrs. Lupin pursed her lips tightly together for a moment before muttering:

"Nasty little sh..."

"Dora!" Mr. Lupin interrupted swiftly, his hand coming to rest upon her elbow, and her face contorted indigently.

"I'm right though, aren't I, Remus? It's a fact of life! Children are bloody horrible!"

"There's a generalization if ever I heard one..."

"You can talk!" Mrs. Lupin cried, reaching to point an accusing finger in his face, narrowly avoiding jabbing him in the eyes. "This one here, Carrie, when he was at school he upturned a potful of compost over some other kid's head! And that's only the start of it! The things his mates got up to...nasty like sods, the lot of them!"

"That wasn't me, it was Sirius..."

"Don't try and pin it on a dead man, Remus, just admit it! If Teddy gets up to half of what you did when you were at school you would be utterly ashamed of him! And then there was me, wasn't there? Merlin, if I had been my mother I would have packed me off to one of those muggle covens..."

"It's a convent, Dora..."

"Exactly! Obnoxious little thing I was, waltzing around Hogwarts, using every lunch hour to plot some little scheme against Charlie Weasley...he was a nasty little bugger too, you know Carrie, I caught him trying to look up my skirt in sixth year when I was at Quidditch tryouts!"

Mr. Lupin's eyes drifted closed and he reached to rub his eyes with one hand.

"That's a joke, isn't it?" he murmured hopefully, and his wife turned to look at him with wide, fuming eyes.

"No, it's not!" she cried, and Carrie watched him sink further down into his chair, brow creasing at this news. "And now you've got to sit across from him at the dinner table tomorrow night and make polite conversation with him knowing that he's seen my knickers! See? Nasty little bugger!"

Carrie couldn't help it, she giggled.

"Don't you worry, Carrie," Mrs. Lupin assured her with a grin as Mr. Lupin continued to frown into the backs of his eyelids. "They'll grow out of it, most of them do. And I'm sure you can keep out of their way, can't you? I've seen that school, it's a pretty big place. And I'm sure your brothers could walk you home, if you asked them. You weren't prepared today, that's all."

Carrie felt only slightly at ease, but she allowed herself to be drawn into other conversation to take her mind off her problem. She told them about Cleo Clancy, her obsessions and wholly false assumptions about magic and her mushy pea concoction, which they seemed to find very amusing indeed. She told them about her different lessons and even presented them with her homework planner so that they could discuss which days had the best combinations of lessons and which were going to be less enjoyable. As Carrie and Mrs. Lupin began to speculate about what else was hidden within the dark confines of Cleo's pockets, Mr. Lupin sat flicking absentmindedly through the homework planner, until he came across a page that seemed to have him captivated. When he failed to answer a question that was directed at him, Mrs. Lupin turned to see what he was staring at. Carrie too squinted over at the open pages of the planner.

He was staring at a small printed map of the school building.

"I have an idea." he announced when they both stared at him questioningly, tapping his fingers thoughtfully upon the open pages.

"Oh?" Mrs. Lupin asked, raising an eyebrow. She stared down at the map for a long moment, and before Carrie could figure out what on earth they were talking about a wide smile began to spread across her face.

"Are you planning to do what I think you're planning to do?" she asked, much to Carrie confusion.

"I think so." he said slowly, a small smile of his own playing upon his lips. "It was your talk of our times at Hogwarts that got me thinking..."

"You do realize it would be illegal, don't you love?"

Mr. Lupin offered his wife a raised eyebrow.

"Are you going to arrest me?" he asked, pressing his wrists together and offering him his hands in mock surrender.

"Oh shut up!" Mrs. Lupin reached to slap his hands away. "I think it's a brilliant idea!" she announced, flinging her arm around him and leaning to press a light kiss to his cheek. "Which is, quite frankly Remus, shocking given how much of that potion you've downed today. You've been taking double doses, it's a wonder you're even constructing coherent sent..."

"Can I borrow this?" Mr. Lupin asked Carrie rather loudly, drowning out her complaint before she could finish speaking.

Carrie paused before answering, one last attempt to try and figure out exactly what on earth was going on, before she told him:

"Well...I suppose...but...but I need it for school in the morning..."

"Excellent!" Mr. Lupin beamed at her as he heaved himself to his feet and made for the door, his stumbling steps somewhat purposeful. "I'll post it through your letterbox after dinner."

"Right then," Mrs. Lupin had also risen to her feet, a far more free and easy movement than his had been. "Let's get you home then, Carrie, I'll unlock the front door for you..." she gave her wand a vague explanatory wave as she passed the child, who got up to follow her. "Oh and here, take this," she produced a small tube of cream from her pocket and held it out to the muggle. As Carrie accepted and examined the little tube of Graze-Away, the witch assured her: "It's way more effective than mushy peas! You're head will look totally fine by the morning!"

Carrie had to agree that it certainly sounded more promising than Cleo's "secret concoction".

When she closed her front door behind her some minutes later, Carrie was still feeling somewhat confused by the final conversation that she had witnessed between Teddy's parents. But as she mounted the stairs towards her bedroom, the tube of cream tucked safely away in her pocket, she couldn't help but feel that the Lupins were going to be helpful to her in more ways than they first seemed.


	11. Cousin Roxie

_Note: I'm sorry I've taken a while to update, I was busy writing **The Dark Creatures' Child**!_

_Thank you to everybody who has left me a review, it's always great to hear when you enjoy the story...spurs me on to write some more!_

_Oh and...take THIS **Kuroida**! *Waves arms around in a poor imitation of kung-fu!* _

_Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor am I making any profit from this piece of writing. I do, however, own Caroline "Carrie" Winters._

**11: Cousin Roxie**

Carrie became so distracted that evening telling her parents about all of her lessons and her rather eccentric new friend, whilst the twins babbled incoherently about their first day, interrupting one another midway through sentences and arguing about insignificant details, that before she knew it, Carrie found herself being sent to bed. It was not until she was dashing down the stairs the following morning, ready to guzzle some orange juice and grab a couple of slices of toast before the twins left for school without her, that she spotted her homework planner set neatly atop her school bag by the front door. She had not spent any time looking at it, however, for she had already wasted far too long standing before the mirror in her bedroom in her pajamas, marveling over the disappearance of her graze and bruises from the day before.

And it wasn't until she had settled down at her desk in first period English class that she got a chance to examine her planner properly. Flicking through the pages until she reached the school map, Carrie drew in a deep breath in anticipation...

...and promptly bit her tongue in a desperate effort not to let out a shriek of combined excitement and surprise.

"It worked, then?" said a familiar voice to her right, and as the chair next to her was drawn back from the desk, Carrie promptly slammed her planner shut and hastily set it down to her left, her Teddy-hair pencil case placed purposefully on top.

"What?" she mumbled hurriedly as she turned to see Cleo drop into the chair beside her, head bent low as she squinted into the deep and mystifying depths of her bag, searching for her own pencil case and planner.

"My secret concoction!" Cleo clarified, glancing up from her search to roll her eyes at Carrie as if it were obvious. "Even the graze has disappeared! I told you so, didn't I?"

"Oh..." Carrie forced an enthusiastic smile onto her lips. "Yeah, it worked great! Thanks, Cleo..." She was relieved that she was spared from more conversation about Cleo's wondrous healing abilities, for it was at that moment that the teacher, Miss Fisher called the class to order. As two boys from the front were each handed a stack of exercise books to hand out, Miss Fisher set about writing her name in large red letters upon the white board with a squeaking marker pen.

"Well then everybody," she said as she turned back to the class, offering them a wide, shiny pink lipstick smile, chubby fingers reaching to straighten her matching pink cardigan. "Welcome to Year Seven English!" She paused, as if waiting for some sort of response, but the children merely stared back at her, a few smiling faintly. "My name is Miss Fisher, and I'm sure I'll get to remember all of your names soon enough! So, let's get down to business, shall we? Today we are going to begin looking at story writing. What do we need to make a story? What makes a good story? Now, I'm going to take the register, and whilst I do that I want everybody to write a little paragraph for me. I want to know what your favorite story book is, what's good about it, why do you like it more than the other books you've read? Does anybody have any questions?" When the only response was the rustling of paper and the zipping open of pencil cases, the teacher retreated to her desk and began to call out names; starting with Georgina Andrews.

As Carrie set about writing her name upon her new exercise book, she half wished that she had not glimpsed the inside of her homework planner until break time because concentrating on anything else was now sure to be near impossible.

Especially when she was dying to reach over and take another peak, just to be sure she hadn't been imagining things. To see if there really were countless moving dots magically making their way across the page of the school map...

Something was jabbing her in the shoulder.

"Hello? Earth to Carrie!"

Carrie blinked herself out of her thoughts and turned back to Cleo.

"What?"

Cleo gave a sigh of exasperation as she scribbled a title atop the first page of her own book.

"What, what, what? Honestly, you'd think somebody had fed you muddle water."

"What?" Carrie said again, utterly bemused. "I mean...what's...muddle water?"

Cleo grinned, leaning towards Carrie conspiratorially as she explained:

"It's a magic potion that makes people confused!"

"What's in it?"

"Crushed earthworms and Coca-Cola."

"Coca-Cola...?"

"Yep. I read about it on the Internet. It's handy, Coco-Cola. Before they made it, witches used to have to gather the ingredients all on their own. The guy who invented it, John Pemberton, he was secretly a warlock."

"Does it cover up the taste of the worms?"

Cleo's face contorted irritably and she offered Carrie a scowl.

"You know," she said as Carrie turned her attention back to her exercise book in an attempt to keep a straight face. "For somebody who says they believe in magic, you don't know very much about it, do you?"

At break time, Carrie retreated into a cubicle of the girls' bathroom to look at her homework planner in peace. Alone, she allowed herself a gasp of excitement when she opened the map page and marveled at the array of little dots slowly moving around the page, like a swarm of tiny insects. As she peered closer, Carrie could make out tiny lettering beside each dot...

Nathan Rider, Hannah Lucas, Tamara Lemon, Joshua Stokes...

And a small, unmoving dot in the first floor girls' toilets labeled Caroline Winters...

"Wow..." Carrie breathed, holding the book right under her nose as she got to her feet, slid back the lock and opened the cubicle door. She began to pace up and down before the row of sinks.

And upon the map, the dot labeled Caroline Winters moved back and forth within the confines of the printed walls of the girls' bathroom.  
Carrie came to a halt, heart hammering with excitement in her chest.

_When I go home_, she decided as she continued to stare at her map, _I'm going to knock on the Lupins' front door. And when Teddy's dad opens the door I'm going to give him the biggest hug EVER..._

It was then that she noticed the loose papers that had been tucked into the back of the planner, and she retreated back into her cubicle to look at them. The first, she discovered, was a single piece of paper upon which was written a note, and the second was a small envelope that appeared to have already been opened.

_Carrie_

_Under no circumstances is anybody other than yourself to lay eyes upon the map. Unlike it's Hogwarts counterpart, which my friends and I created whilst at school, the marks upon it cannot be magically hidden. More specifically, you cannot perform the magic which would do so. Keep this in mind and be very careful. _

_More importantly, make sure you have lots of fun with it! You can call it an early Christmas present from Dora and I, if you like. _

_Teddy wrote to us yesterday and enclosed a letter for you, too. It completely slipped our minds yesterday afternoon, so I have enclosed it here. _

_Take care,_

_Remus_

_Dear Carrie_

_I'm a GRYFFINDOR! _

_The Sorting Hat took a while to decide, it was a very close thing, but it finally sorted me into my dad's house._

Carrie felt oddly disappointed at this news. She had rather been hoping that Teddy would end up in Hufflepuff. She had liked the idea of him being in the house for those who were loyal, it had reassured her that her best friend would remain exactly that, no matter what wonders there were to distract him at Hogwarts, no matter how much more boring the muggle world would start to seem.

_Hogwarts is quite possibly the coolest place I've ever seen, and I can't wait for lessons to start today. They are going to be amazing, I'll write and tell you all about them! I've woken up extra early so that I can write home before breakfast. Breakfast, Carrie! I can't even wait for breakfast! The food here is amazing! I wish you could have seen the welcome feast, there was so much food I didn't know what to try first! I'm sharing my dormitory with some other boys in my year, we didn't get much sleep last night because we were talking so much. The boy in the bed next to mine kept making jokes when we were trying to sleep, we kept on laughing and it kept us awake. His name is Joshua Henderson, he says he is a muggle born, that means his parents are muggles like you. We had a chat about the Interweb. I think the others thought we were a bit crazy. _

_There is a notice on the board in the common room about Dueling Club, I think I might join but only once I've learned some spells in Defense Against the Dark Arts. That's the subject my dad used to teach, did I ever tell you that? _

_What is it like at Oakhurst Manor? Have you made any nice friends? I hope you write and tell me all about it, I promise I'll write back! _

_Lots of love,_

_Teddy_

Glad as she was that Teddy was happy at Hogwarts, Carrie could not help but feel rather jealous of his wonderful first day, so much more enjoyable than her own, and news of Joshua Henderson made her feel even worse.

How come he got lucky?

Carrie folded the letters up and tucked them into the pocket of her blazer, hugging her arms around herself.

She didn't really stand a chance as a best friend, she mused dully, with somebody like Joshua Henderson to contend with. Who would she want as a friend? The boring muggle girl or the boy who had the best of both worlds? It wasn't much of a competition, she was sure...

Carrie was glad to hear the bell ringing for the start of third period and he hurriedly stored her planner in her bag and hurried off in search of her science classroom.

Carrie's second day at secondary school was, like the first, full of highs and lows. Her discovery of her magical map was by far the highlight of her day, whilst she was not entirely sure which category to place Teddy's letter into. She was also delighted at lunchtime when, through a mouthful of salt and vinegar crisps, Cleo had asked if she would like to go back to her house for dinner after school the next day.

Carrie's biggest low that day came when the final bell rang for the end of school and she headed down the steps towards the gates, looking around searchingly for her brothers.

"Carrie!"

She barely heard the sound of Thomas shouting her name above the chatter and noise of the rest of the students around her, and it took a long moment for her to catch sight of the twins, who were waving their arms wildly in the air trying to get her attention. She had barely raised her arm to wave back when Thomas shouted:

"We're going to play football with Mark and Jordan! We'll see you at home, yeah?"

Dread descended over her within seconds as Carrie made a dash after the two boys, who had already turned and were running off towards the gates.

"WAIT!" she yelled after them, but her voice was lost amongst the crowd. She came to a defeated halt, staring miserably as she watched her brothers run out of the gates...

...past the group of girls who were stood waiting just as they had been the day before.

Carrie wondered how long they would stay there for, if she could just wait for them to leave, but her mother would be at home today, she would get worried if Carrie didn't get home on time.

Adjusting the bag upon her shoulder, Carrie sucked in a deep, steadying breath.

I can do this, she told herself firmly, I can, I just have to walk, keep an eye on my feet...

Walk. Just walk...

And so it was that Carrie Winters approached the school gates, gaze fixed on her shoes. Just like last time, the bullies seemed to be ignoring her...

They were ignoring her! She was past them, nobody had tried to trip her, one step, two steps, three, four...

So preoccupied with staring at her feet was she, that when Carrie felt somebody's hands upon her shoulders she was so surprised that she could not think to react. She found herself shoved violently forwards, her feet stumbling, tripping...

Only for another hand to catch hold of her by the arm, just in time to stop her from toppling flat on her face.

Carrie looked up to find herself face to face with her savior, only to take a small step backwards at the sight of her. Before her stood a tall girl of what Carrie would estimate to be about eighteen years of age. She had short, cropped, bleached blonde hair, the spiky tips tinged green as if the bleaching had somehow gone badly wrong. Her face was adorned with piercings, from a dark metal ring through one nostril to a hefty looking bolt sticking out just under her lower lip. Carrie watched her turn her thickly eyeliner-ed dark eyes upon the bullies, and Carrie couldn't help but think that she was extremely grateful not to be in their shoes at that moment in time.

The intimidating teenager took a few steps forward, and Carrie turned to watch the bullies stare back in silent mortification at each heavy booted step. They were eyed accusingly for another long moment as the fierce teen chewed rather noisily upon a wad of chewing gum before she glanced back to look at Carrie. When she resumed her silent glowering at the bullies, she reached to fiddle with the line of thick metal rings upon her fingers.

"What's she done to you?" she asked the girls at last, but Carrie couldn't really see the point, they seemed far too petrified to give an answer. "Well? Anybody?" When the bullies merely shuffled back a little as the teen took another step forward, they were offered a smirk. "Yeah...I thought as much." the teen muttered darkly, nails blobbed with chipped acid green nail varnish tapping menacingly upon her rings.

Carrie too shuffled back a few steps and as she did she began to notice a crowd gathering around the gates. The students of Oakhurst Manor School looked on as the fierce girl look another step forward, face mere inches from that of Fish Lips who Carrie had run into on her first morning.

"I'm watching you." the girl hissed, causing Fish Lips' eyes to widen in panic, and with that the girl turned on her heel and swaggered off up the road, pausing to spit her gum out into the grass verge.

There was a long silence as the students watched her go, and Carrie was torn between staring after her and looking at the horror-stricken looks upon the bullies' faces.

"Who the bloody hell was that?" one of the bullies finally squeaked, and Fish Lips swallowed hard, still staring off up the street.

"I have no idea..." she breathed at last, and it was then that an idea struck Carrie, she took a bold step forward and announced:

"That's my cousin!"

The bullies turned to gawp at her, and, not wanting to hang around, Carrie turned and fled after the punk girl, picking a name out of thin air:

"Hey, Roxie!" she shouted, ignoring the fact that the girl appeared to have disappeared from view. "Wait up!"


	12. Through the Fence

_Note: This is dedicated to **XFutureMrsCrawfordX**, I hope this is fast enough for you!_

_This chapter is much shorter than usual, sorry about that! It is also a piece of unadulterated FLUFF, with some FLUFF thrown in. I was just in that sort of mood, sorry!_

_Besides, what's point of keeping Remus and Tonks alive if I can't throw in a chapter like this once in a while? No point at all, that's what! =) _

_Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor am I making any profit from this piece of writing._

**12: Through the Fence**

Carrie skipped the last leg of her journey home that afternoon, past the little green where she and Teddy had played on the swing, round the corner and up her road. She let herself inside, dumped her bag down upon the floor and announced her triumphant arrival to the house at large.

"Good day, Carrie love?" her mother's voice called back from inside the study. As Carrie bounded down the hallway towards the kitchen she declared:

"It was GREAT!"

"Well that's wonderful, love." came the reply. "But d'you think you could keep the noise down a little? I'm on the phone to your Auntie Susan. There's hot chocolate on the counter for you."

With a shout of thanks that constituted no effort whatsoever to be quieter, Carrie skidded into the kitchen to retrieve her mug of hot chocolate, before heading out into the garden to make the most of the last of the summer sunshine.

She sat down upon one of her mother's garden chairs and, for some minutes, simply watched the world go by. Then, as it often did when she was sat doing little besides getting lost in her thoughts, Carrie found her gaze drifting over to the garden fence that separated her garden from the Lupins' next door.

Carrie wondered what they were up to, if Mrs. Lupin had been brewing magic potions, or how many objects Mr. Lupin had made fly that day. She wondered if Mrs. Lupin was at home, or at work chasing after bad guys, tripping them to the floor with a flick of her wand.

Carrie wanted to tell them about the fierce teenager who had rescued her from the bullies at the school gates, and about her stroke of genius in claiming she was a relation. But of course, she reminded herself, she could not simply go knocking on their door and invite herself in for another cup of tea. Now that Teddy was away she had no right to disturb them. They were adults, after all, it didn't matter how friendly they were, they wouldn't want her hanging around their house.

The prospect of going a whole entire term without glimpsing little shows of magic was a dull one, and so when Carrie heard a door opening from somewhere over the fence, she abandoned the last of her hot chocolate and hurried over to the wooden partition, ready to pop her head over and call a polite greeting to whoever had stepped outside.

That was until she heard Mrs. Lupin's voice announce:

"Oh come on! Don't look at me like that!"

Instead, Carrie dropped into a crouch and found the nearest little gap in the fence, pressing her head against it so that she could peer into the garden next door.

And there, stood in the doorway leading into her neighbors kitchen, was Cousin Roxie, ring-laden hands on hips as she offered the wizard who was sat in a garden chair a triumphant smirk.

Carrie watched Mr. Lupin look Roxie up and down, taking in the clumpy boots, hole-laden fishnet tights, and faded, fraying denim miniskirt with a raised eyebrow. The undersized t shirt and leather biker jacket led him to purse his lips together into a very thin line, and the piercings, eyeliner and bleached hair made him squeeze his eyes firmly closed before he looked determinedly down at the book that he had been reading.

"Admit it!" Roxie announced as she launched herself down the small couple of steps leading onto the patio. "I look awesome!"

"Believe me, Dora." Mr. Lupin murmured, determinedly turning a page as his wife swaggered towards him. "There are a great many number of words that I could use to describe you right now...and awesome isn't one of them..."

"Don't be dull!" Mrs. Lupin told him as she came to a halt in front of him and gave an exaggerated twirl. "Admit it, it was an awesome plan and a even more awesome disguise!"

Mr. Lupin's eyes did not leave the pages of his book, and Carrie was sure that his grip upon the arm of his chair visibly tightened.

"There is no way, not in a million years, that I'm going to condone you going around threatening groups of school children." he informed his wife somewhat icily, only for her to reach forward to pluck the book from his hands.

"Yes, yes, I know, I know! You don't approve! I get it, Remus, you've only told me about a million times already! Let's be honest though love, since when have I ever actually listened to a word you say?"

In response, the witch found the book yanked from her hands by an invisible force and Carrie watched with a grin as it landed neatly upon Mr. Lupin's lap.

"I'm only joking!" Mrs. Lupin protested as he began to search for the page he had been reading.

"She's not your daughter. It has nothing to do with you..."

"This from the man who broke Wizarding Law and made her a Marauders' Map!"

"So she can help herself! Either she learns to help herself or she goes and tells her own parents and they sort it out..."

"Have you met her parents, Remus?"

"More often than you have, as it happens. And anyway, you can't just go around threatening people..."

"Technically I didn't threaten them, I just said I'd be watching them, if they think that means I'm going to pound their faces into mush that's really the fault of their imaginations..."

"They're CHILDREN, Dora!"

"Yes, Remus, they are. Do you know what else they are? Nasty little shits who don't know the meaning of the word bully. If they did they'd straighten themselves out sharpish before they upset the wrong person. Carrie shouldn't have to put up with them, we've enough proper bullies in the world without a bunch of fakes too." When her husband merely gave a resigned sigh, she observed: "We're not going to come to any form of agreement on this, are we?"

"Probably not." he admitted, abandoning his flicking through the book and setting it down upon the little garden table. He eyed her attire again for a long moment before consenting: "Except, perhaps, that it was a rather brilliant disguise."

"You think so?"

"Oh yes! I certainly wouldn't mess with you."

His supposedly teenaged wife took a few stomping steps forwards until there were precious few millimeters between them, leaning down to thrust her face towards his, stopping just short of headbutting him in the forehead.

"Go on," Carrie heard her murmur, struggling to keep a straight face. "Mess with me, I dare you!"

The wizard regarded her for moment with pursed lips.

"Only if you drop the morph first." he decided at last, causing the witch to smirk.

"Am I making you feel old?" she asked, hands upon his knees to steady herself, and his gaze drifted skywards as he admitted:

"Old and probably more than slightly perverted."

The witch threw back her head and let out a shout of laughter, and as she did so Carrie watched in awe as her hair lengthened and shifted until it was a soft shade of pink.

And quite suddenly, Roxie didn't look like Roxie anymore.

"Better?" Mrs. Lupin asked, and the wizard seemingly sighed with relief.

"Better." he agreed, but when she leaned towards him again he added: "But if you think I'm going to kiss you when you've pieces of metal protruding from your face you've got another thing coming. You could do me injury, you know."

She puffed her cheeks in exasperation, but nevertheless consented to drawing her wand from...Carrie wasn't entirely sure where...and with a rather vague wave the countless piercings and spikes disappeared into thin air, all except for the dark metal nose ring.

Mr. Lupin folded his arms across his chest, expression unchanged.

"I'll have you know that you took me out on at least three dates when I had a nose stud!" his wife informed him pointedly, and he gave a stubborn shrug.

"I was clinging onto the notion that it was just a faze you were going through...and besides...that was a small stud not a stupidly oversized..."

"Fine, fine, fine! I'm just messing with you!" Another wave of her wand later and Mrs. Lupin's face was void of all forms of metal. She straightened up and folded her arms across her chest to match him as she recalled: "You told me it looked pretty."

Again, Mr. Lupin shrugged, eyes darting sideways to avoid her gaze that was still framed by a formidable mass of black eyeliner.

"Of course I did...it...it did look pretty..."

"Liar."

"Just because I didn't like it doesn't mean it wasn't pretty. That's the maddening thing about you, Dora, you always look pretty. Even when you're dressed up like a teenaged punk hooker..."

"A what?"

"...it's bloody awful."

The pink haired witch's pose instantly slackened as she dissolved into laughter again, reaching to grab hold of her husband by the hands and give his arms a firm tug to persuade him up onto his feet.

"Is that...supposed to be...a compliment...or an insult?" she managed to choke out between her laughter, and as she flung her arms around his neck and attempted to smother her hysterics in the front of his jumper, Mr. Lupin frowned bemusedly.

"I'm not sure." he mumbled, wrapping his arms somewhat carefully about her waist.

Finally stifling her laughing fit, the witch withdrew her face from the folds of his jumper and looked up at him, grinning broadly.

"I'm almost as tall as you in these shoes." she observed, and they both looked down at the clumpy platform boots.

"They're ridiculous." Mr. Lupin decided as she looked back up at him, grin as wide as ever.

"I like them!"

"Me too." He reached to smooth her disheveled hair, which since its sudden growth spurt seemed determined to stick out at odd, messy angles. "Though how you managed to make it back from Oakhurst in one piece whilst wearing them is a complete mystery to me..."

"Don't be such a git, Remus!" his wife demanded, withdrawing an arm from around his neck just long enough that she could give him a firm slap upon the arm. When he simply chuckled under his breath, her grip around his neck seemed to tighten until it was something akin to a strangle hold.

"Shut up and gimme a kiss, then!" she said expectantly, and Carrie immediately turned her back upon the fence, not wanting to intrude any longer.

She did, however, hear Mrs. Lupin's fresh burst of laughter, not to mention Mr. Lupin's mortified protest of:

"That was utterly revolting and downright unnecessary!"

"You can't complain!" Mrs. Lupin's voice half sang triumphantly as Carrie heard her hasty retreat towards the back door. "You said no metal on my face! And that wasn't on my face at all, was it?"

As she headed back inside her own house, giggling quietly at Mr. Lupin's loud announcement that he would no longer be cooking dinner that evening (I've just lost my appetite!), the muggle was pretty sure that she had never come across a family as unique as the Lupins, magical or otherwise.

She wished her parents were more like them.


	13. Teddy Returns

_Note: Again, a bit short, but I wanted the next part to fit nicely into one chapter, so this one has ended early! Thank you to my reviewers once again, you make me smile. =)_

_Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor am I making any profit from this piece of writing._

**13: Teddy Returns**

The incident by the school gates appeared to have worked its magic, for when Carrie and Cleo headed out of school the following afternoon, the cluster of bullies gave them no trouble at all.

"If we hurry." Cleo said as they crossed over the road and set off towards her house, "we can get hold of the computer before Bowie gets home. If she gets there first we'll never stand a chance, she can chat in chat rooms for millions of years."

As it turned out, Cleo's house was located just up the road from Oakhurst Manor, in a quiet little turning off of the main road named Old Oak Crescent. The house itself was similar in appearance to Carrie's own, though it was smaller and from what Carrie could see it did not have an attic room. They were just making their way up the narrow concrete driveway when a voice called from over the road.

"Alright there, Cleopatra? Turned anybody into a frog recently?"

As Carrie turned to look searchingly over her shoulder, Cleo continued on up the drive.

"Piss off!" the scruffy girl muttered darkly as she set about extracting her keys from the depths of her blazer pocket.

Sat upon the front step of the house opposite, Carrie saw, was a broad shouldered girl with a round, podgy face and long, dark brown hair tied in pigtails just behind her ears. Carrie watched the stranger snigger uncontrollably, before she heard Cleo call:

"Come on then!"

Once they were both inside, Cleo slammed the door shut and set about dumping her school bag beneath the coat stand.

"Who was that?" Carrie asked, and immediately regretted being curious because Cleo's face contorted into a furious scowl.

"That was Amanda Goyle." she muttered, kicking off her shoes, causing each to strike the wall with a thud. "She makes fun of me because I'm a witch. She's just jealous, though. I hate her guts."

"I think if you stuck a pin in her, she'd go pop." Carrie said as she set her own bag down and reached down to unbuckle her shoes.

Cleo offered her an appreciative grin.

"If you think she's fat, you should see her big brother! At least I don't have to put up with him anymore."

"Why not?"

"He goes to boarding school or something. Amanda's going to be eleven next year, so with any luck she'll disappear off there too. Then I won't have to deal with either of them."

After a rather lengthy discussion about Amanda Goyle's poor taste in dresses and how her thick eyebrows made her look as though she had a small forest growing upon her face, Cleo's mood brightened considerably and the two girls spent an enjoyable few hours examining Cleo's favorite websites on magic spells and potions. Carrie attempted to memorize as much of the nonsense as she could, so that she could write to Teddy and tell him all about it. When Cleo's older sister came home they found themselves evicted from the computer room because Bowie, whose Barbie doll-like appearance, made Carrie stare in astonishment, wanted to check her email.

"She doesn't look anything like you!" Carrie had hissed as Cleo led the way up the staircase towards her bedroom.

"I know." Cleo grinned, pausing to lean over the bannister as she announced: "If Barbie dyes her hair much more often it's going to snap off!"

"Shut up, you little slug!" Bowie called back cheerily, and Cleo sniggered as she turned and bounded on up the stairs.

Cleo's bedroom reminded Carrie of the cupboard under the stairs at Teddy's house. It was a small, narrow room that seemed smaller still for the countless shelves that lined the walls, and a damp, earthy smell hung in the air. As Cleo flopped down onto her bed, Carrie stood in the doorway, unsure of where to look first. Several shelves were littered with what seemed to be different pebbles and rocks, a few sea shells and a large collection of twigs. Another was jam-packed full of glass jars with...stuff...inside of them. Closest to the door was a shelf lined with books and when Carrie ran her eyes over the collection she saw nothing but books about magic and witchcraft. The carpet was littered with all manner of objects, from laundry and scribblings upon note paper to a small cage set under the tiny writing desk, from which a soft scrabbling noise could be heard.

"What's that?" Carrie asked, pointing to the cage, and Cleo rolled over onto her stomach and edged towards the edge of the bed, reaching to pull the cage out for Carrie to see.

"That's Ethelbert." she informed Carrie proudly. "He's my Familiar."

Carrie stared down at the toffee coloured guinea pig, clearing her throat to smother a giggle.

"He's cute."

"I wanted a black cat, but I'm allergic."

Carrie couldn't help it anymore. She dropped down upon the edge of the bed and dissolved into a giggling fit.

The following week, Carrie invited Cleo back to her house after school, and so begun a weekly routine of taking turns to visit each others houses. Cleo's obsession with magic often had Carrie in stitches of laughter, though she made an effort not to let Cleo know, since the wannabe witch had been somewhat indigent after Carrie had laughed at Ethelbert.

Carrie rarely caught sight of Mr. or Mrs. Lupin after watching them through the fence. Afterwards she had felt somewhat guilty for intruding on their privacy and so had ceased all such probing activities. She occasionally exchanged a greeting or two when she came across one of them in their driveway, and she had bumped into Mrs. Lupin and a tall, thin lady with grey hair and dark eyes who turned out to be Teddy's grandmother, in the high street when Carrie and the twins had been on the way home from the sweet shop. On no occasion did she witness any magic. It was disappointing.

Carrie wrote to Teddy at least once every week, and she was both relieved and excited each time he replied. For the most part, though she missed her best friend, Carrie was content with life, though at any mention by Teddy of Joshua Henderson she could not seem to help but feel a stab of jealousy. Worse still, she seemed to be feeling more and more this way as the weeks went on, for Teddy and Joshua were apparently becoming very firm friends. On several occasions, whilst failing not to sulk, Carrie had grown tired of Cleo's incessant babbling, and at lunch one day, having just read that Joshua had been attempting to persuade Teddy to stay at Hogwarts for Christmas, Carrie had barely resisted the urge to grasp hold of Cleo's shoulders and give her a good shake. _You're not a witch_, she'd wanted to scream, _you're just a normal girl! A normal, boring girl, just like me!_

Sometimes she worried that Teddy was going to change, that he would return for the holidays a different boy, disinterested in boring muggle things and more interested in the wonderful world that had been under his nose the whole entire time. Hogwarts could open his eyes, and change him forever, and ruin Carrie's life. And when she thought such things, Carrie almost found herself wishing that Teddy would not be coming back.

And so it was that Carrie was glad when the weather began to turn dull and frosty, and at school the students began to murmur excitedly about the approaching Christmas Holidays.

Before she knew it, the last day of school was ending, and Carrie and Cleo were practically skipping towards the school gates in euphoric triumph, only to come to an abrupt halt when Carrie saw that somebody was there waiting for her.

"Do you see that boy?" Cleo chuckled as she came to a halt at Carrie's side and pointed to the spot where the bullies were usually gathered. "Look at his hair!"

But before Cleo had even finished her sentence, Carrie had made a run for the gates, as somewhere inside her head a crowd seemed to break out into cheers.

"TED!"

At the sight of Carrie Winters running full pelt towards him, her school bag swinging wildly at her side, Teddy Lupin braced himself for impact. He had not, however, been quite prepared for the arms that were flung around his neck, and as the children around them stared at the pair, he patted Carrie gingerly on the back.

"Hi..." he managed to choke out when her strangle hold upon him finally loosened, and Carrie took a step back, pink blossoming upon her cheeks.

"Sorry..." she mumbled, shifting her feet awkwardly. "I just...well...when did you get back? You didn't say you'd finished school yet."

"I came back yesterday," Teddy explained, seemingly oblivious to the small group of Year Eight girls who were behind him, pointing at his hair and whispering to one another. "But I had to go and stay at Gran's house, because Mum was stuck at work and Dad was sick again."

"Oh...is he better today, then?" Carrie asked as Cleo stepped up next to her, staring at Teddy's hair along with the rest.

"Of course." Teddy grinned, shoving his hands into his pockets, eyes coming to rest upon the disheveled looking girl at Carrie's side. "Hi." he greeted, prompting Carrie to remember to explain:

"Teddy, this is my friend Cleo. Cleo, this is Teddy."

"Nice to meet you, Cleo." Teddy nodded, apparently unabashed by Cleo's blatant staring.

"Your hair's turquoise." Cleo told him, and he raised an eyebrow as if this piece of information surprised him.

"Ted lives next door to me." Carrie explained, and Cleo took a turn at raising an eyebrow, adjusting her grip upon her school bag.

"I know he does, Carrie. You don't shut up about him." she sniggered as she offered the other two a little wave, announcing: "I have to get home, I'll call you!" And with that, Cleo slipped past the group of Year Eights and headed off up the road.

Left alone with Teddy, Carrie felt her cheeks warming even more as she mumbled:

"She's exaggerating..."

Teddy didn't seem to be listening as he turned to look through the railings at Oakhurst Manor School.

"Your school looks pretty nice," he commented brightly, and at that moment Carrie suddenly wished that he had not decided to meet her from school, yet another reminder of the gap between them.

"It's okay..." Boring. Normal. Lacking in dungeons and turrets.

"I like it."

Determined to change the subject, Carrie turned her back on the school and, saying the first thing that came to mind, said:

"It's a bit chilly out here, isn't it? We should go home." She set off up the pavement, and Teddy turned to hurry after her, reaching to tug the scarf from around his neck.

"Here," he said, seemingly beaming with pride as he reached to drape the red and gold stripes around her neck. "I'll let you borrow my scarf, but only because I reckon you're a Gryffindor too."

"What makes you think that?" she asked, with a smile of thanks as he proceeded to tug the bag from her shoulder and up onto his own.

"You've willingly eaten my mum's cauldron cakes. Only people with true Gryffindor courage can manage something as brave as that."

As she let out a puff of laughter, her breath rising in a pale cloud before here, Carrie beamed too.

She had her best friend back. And he wasn't different, not at all.


	14. The Christmas Fair

_Note: Well, here is a longer chapter to make up for the previous two which were so short! I hope you enjoy reading it. Thank you very much to my kind reviewers, it is always great to hear from you!_

_FF won't let me save alterations for paragraph breaks...sorry about that! =Z  
_

_Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor am I making any profit from this piece of writing. _

**14: The Christmas Fair**

"DAD!"

As she watched Teddy Lupin bound down the staircase, making enough noise to wake the dead, the soggy sheet of paper held aloft in his hand, Carrie Winters struggled to fight back a smile.

Having spent so much of the last few days at her neighbors' house, prompting her mother to comment that she was beginning to believe that Carrie and Teddy were joined at the hip, Carrie had decided to phone Cleo that morning and had arranged to go round to her house for the morning. If she were honest, Carrie would admit that she would much rather had spent the morning playing Exploding Snap and Gobstones with Teddy, but she knew full well that once the holidays were over and Teddy returned to Hogwarts, Cleo would be the closest thing to a best friend that she would have left. It would not do to ignore her the whole holiday.

And it wasn't as though she didn't like Cleo, Carrie had assured herself whilst on her way over to Old Oak Crescent, she liked her very much indeed. It was just that she liked Teddy so much more.

She had in actual fact had a lot of fun at Cleo's house, it was to be Cleo's father's birthday the next day and so the two girls had baked him a cake, complete with chocolate sprinkles and a generous layer of dark chocolate icing. It had taken them a long while to clean up afterwards, Carrie recalled, since the kitchen looked rather like...what was the phrase Mrs. Lupin had once used? Like somebody had let a horde of pixies loose in it. Carrie was still unsure as to how the cake mixture had managed to splatter itself across the ceiling, all she did know was that they had been forced to enlist the help of Bowie, who was tall enough to reach to clean it off again. This one aspect of cleaning had taken even longer than the rest put together, for Bowie was reluctant to risk getting her new knitted dress dirty. Cleo had pointed out that white was a silly colour to wear in their household anyway, and that it would be the lesser of two evils if the dress got dirty – if their mother were to see the state of the kitchen she would no doubt scream at Cleo for at least half an hour, and if that happened Bowie would struggle to hear what her friends were nattering about on the telephone.

"You might miss out on some hot gossip! Cindy might have bought some new lip gloss and you wouldn't even know about it!"

At this exclamation, Bowie had grabbed the fluffy pillow from beside her upon her bed and hurled it across the room at her little sister, but had abandoned the book that she had been reading and consented to help nevertheless.

Just before Carrie had left, Cleo had disappeared off to fetch something from a deep and dark corner of her bedroom, and had returned to present her friend with a soggy looking poster advertising a Christmas Fair that was to be held that afternoon in the center of town.

"Show it to your mum," Cleo had suggested with a grin, "and I might see you there!"

Carrie had not bothered to show the poster to her mother, since she knew that Mrs. Winters was much too busy with preparations for Christmas to take Carrie out anywhere, she would only suggest that the twins took Carrie into town instead.

And so she had gone round and knocked on the Lupins' door and gone up to Teddy's bedroom to show the poster to him instead. Carrie had not been entirely sure whether or not a boring muggle Christmas Fair was the sort of thing that Teddy wanted to waste his time with, but he had snatched up the poster and bolted for the stairs.

Mr. Lupin had, as usual, failed to be startled when his son burst into the study, narrowly avoiding knocking the door from it's hinges.

"DAD!"

As Carrie came to a halt just behind Teddy, she watched the wizard stubbornly finish reading the letter that he held in his hands before he finally set it down upon the desk and looked up at the two children.

"You ought not shout quite so loudly, Ted." Mr. Lupin said as Teddy bounded forward to thrust the soggy poster under his nose. "As we speak there are probably fathers all over the country looking around wildly, wondering who is calling them..."

"Look!" Teddy interrupted impatiently, giving the poster a little shake, as if Mr. Lupin could fail to notice the paper mere millimeters from his face.

"A muggle Christmas Fair...?"

"Yeah! Look, Santa Claus is going to be there! With his ELVES!"

Mr. Lupin's brow furrowed as he squinted down at the tubby, bearded man upon the poster.

"You...you want to go and see Santa Claus? And his...elves?" he attempted to clarify, reaching to pull the paper down from his face so that he could stare at his son.

He looked downright bemused. It made Carrie giggle.

"Yes!" Teddy confirmed, nodding enthusiastically. "So...will you take us?"

Mr. Lupin leaned back in his chair, frown deepening as he said:

"You do realize they're not real elves, don't you? They're just muggles dressed up in ridiculous looking suits..." he trailed off when he noticed that Carrie was listening and offered her an apologetic smile.

"I know!" Teddy cried, fidgeting excitedly as he announced: "It'll be bloody hilarious!"

Mr. Lupin leaned forwards slightly in his chair, gaze suddenly quite piercing and Teddy hurriedly amended:

"I mean it'll be absolutely hilarious!"

"Indeed..." his father muttered, reaching to push the poster aside and pick up one of a large pile of unopened letters. As he set about carefully pulling open the envelope, still very much frowning, Teddy hurried around the desk to stand beside him, rocking back and forwards upon his heels impatiently.

"Please, Dad! Please, please, please..."

"I'm quite busy, Teddy..."

"No you're not! I bet I could tell you what all those say without you even opening them!"

Mr. Lupin pulled the letter from its envelope with what was probably much more force than was necessary, and Teddy paused in his fidgeting to shove his hands awkwardly in his pockets.

"Go and do the washing up." Mr. Lupin instructed, and Carrie watched Teddy hang his head.

"I'm sorry, Dad..."

"You've not touched it since I asked you this morning. And whilst you're at it, put your shoes away properly. Your mother will trip over them if you leave them by the back door like that."

When Teddy simply stood, opening and closing his mouth several times as he attempted to think of something to say, his father finally looked up and said:

"Well? What are you waiting for?"

"Carrie's here, Dad..." Teddy reminded him, and Carrie shuffled back into the hallway a little, embarrassed.

"You better hurry up with that washing up then." Mr. Lupin suggested, reaching to draw out his wand from his pocket. "You don't want Carrie to get bored waiting for you, do you?"

Carrie was briefly distracted from the awkward atmosphere when he gave the letter a tap with his wand and it disappeared into thin air. It took her a moment to notice that Teddy had turned and shuffled out of the room, reaching to pull the door closed behind him.

"I'm such an idiot." he muttered dejectedly as he led the way towards the kitchen. "I just had to open my big mouth..."

"That wasn't very fair." Carrie told him, attempting to side with him in order to cheer him up.

She was surprised, therefore, when Teddy shook his head vigorously, hugging his arms around himself with a heavy sigh.

"It's perfectly fair. I'm an idiot. Mum's going to be mad if she finds out." He headed over to the sink and set about filling the washing up bowl with soapy water. "Dad's...had a bad time recently. He's...being a bit short tempered." he muttered as Carrie went to fetch a tea towel from by toaster. "Mum says I'm not to upset him."

"What's wrong with him?" Carrie asked as he stared down at the growing bubbles with a somber expression upon his face.

"I'm what's wrong with him." he said, reaching to halt the fast flow of water and reaching for the sponge. "Mum says he's not doing so well now I'm at Hogwarts."

"Why?"

Teddy dunked a plate into the water and set about scrubbing it clean.

"When I was younger, it was sort of okay, Dad not having a job. Mum put gold in the vault, and Dad looked after me, played with me, taught me to read, write, count...that takes up a lot of time, you know, looking after a child. But I'm not here half the time now, am I? What's he got to do now besides a bit of cleaning and filling out those stupid job applications? It's getting to him, I think. His mood's pretty unpredictable, Mum's worried about him."

Carrie frowned as she accepted the plate from him and set about drying it.

"There must be things for him to do. I mean...what did he do before? Before you were born, I mean."

Teddy pressed his lips together against a smile as he recalled:

"Well...he did a bit of teaching...only for a year, mind you. Most of his time was spent either on the run from the authorities, hanging out with his convicted mass murderer friend, or going on missions for a secret organization he was part of during the War."

At the wide eyed, completely bemused looked that Carrie presented him with after this explanation, the young wizard simply laughed.

"Did I not tell you all about the War?" he asked, surprised at himself as Carrie reached to put the plate down, still staring.  
"What...war?"

"The Second Wizarding War."

"A Wizard War...?"

"Yeah, the Second one. Although Dad fought in the first one, too..."

"Your dad has fought in a Wizard War? Two of them...?"

"Yep. That's how he met my mum. They were both in the Order of the Phoenix...it was a secret organization that fought against Voldemort..."

"Who?"

"Voldemort. You've heard of him, right?"

"No..."

"Oh...I thought even muggles might have at least known his name..."

"Who is he?"

"He was the most evil dark wizard ever...that was until Harry killed him."

"Harry? As in your godfather Harry?"

"Yeah, that's the one. Harry Potter, most famous wizard of the age."

Carrie went to lean against the kitchen table, feeling more than a little overwhelmed. She was beginning to think that this was as difficult to comprehend as the notion of magic itself.

Wizards had wars? Surely not, surely somebody would have noticed something like that...

And Teddy sounded so casual about it, too...

Mr. Lupin had a convicted mass murder friend...? Ridiculous!

"The Order of the Phoenix helped Harry defeat the Dark Lord." Teddy went on, apparently oblivious to Carrie's confusion. "That's why it sucks that Dad can't get a job. I mean...he's a bloody war hero! There's something wrong with the world, you know, when somebody who was prepared to die to protect it can't even get a stupid job..."

"Teddy?"

At the sound of Mr. Lupin's voice, Teddy jumped, splashing water down his front, and he turned to find his father standing in the doorway. Carrie spun around to look at the wizard, wondering how he had gotten there without them noticing. It seemed that Teddy was thinking something similar, for he cried:

"For the love of Merlin, Dad! Did you have to sneak up on us like that?"

Mr. Lupin took a few steps into the room and pointed his wand at the sink. The plate that Teddy had been holding leapt from his hands back into the bowl and began to wash itself.

"Force of habit, I'm afraid." the older wizard explained as he gave his wand another wide sweep and the pair of trainers by the back door were levitated to Teddy's side. "First rule of being part of a secret organization, Theodore..."

"Be sneaky." Teddy finished, folding his arms across his chest and barely suppressing a grin. "I know, Dad. I was just telling Carrie about Harry and the Order and Voldemort. Will you tell her the story?"

"I could do." Mr. Lupin said as the trainers rose a few inches until they hung before Teddy's face meaningfully. "But it's a long story, and you'll probably miss your chance to see Santa if I started now..."

"I thought we weren't going."

"I never said that."

Teddy immediately snatched the trainers out of the air and began to pull them onto his feet.

"What changed your mind?" he asked as Mr. Lupin went to lock the back door.

"You can finish the kitchen when you get back." came the vague response. It seemed good enough for Teddy, however, for he bolted for the front door, calling excitedly for Carrie to hurry up.

Carrie stared bewildered at Mr. Lupin for a long moment, mind still consumed with thoughts of war heroes and evil dark wizards, when Teddy's father turned his back on the door and offered her a somewhat wistful smile.

"I know," he said in answer to her unspoken words. "Looking at us now, sometimes I can't believe it, either."

"Hahahahaha!"

"Stop laughing, Theodore."

"But Dad! They've got BELLS on their shoes!"

As he stood beside Carrie and Teddy at the side of the street, staring over at the alarmingly glittery Santa's Grotto, Mr. Lupin sniggered.

"Be that as it may," he said, clearing his throat loudly as Carrie put a wooly gloved hand to her mouth to stifle her own amusement. "You shouldn't be laughing at them. You'll ruin the experience for the other children."

Teddy frowned over at the line of children waiting impatiently with their parents to sit upon Santa's knee and tell him what they wanted for Christmas, eyes coming to rest back upon the elves in their green jackets and stockings.

"But...they've got bells on their shoes..." he said again, and Carrie was forced to turn away to hide her giggling.

"I hadn't noticed." Mr. Lupin muttered dryly, reaching into his pocket and drawing out his wallet, only to look up at the grotto again when Teddy cried:

"That one's got a red wig on!"

"Says the boy with the turquoise hair." his father said with a grin, eyes back upon his wallet. Carrie watched his sort through an assortment of large gold and silver coins that looked nothing like the money she was used to, before he extracted a couple of crumbled looking five pound notes and returned the wallet to his pocket.

"No tormenting the elves." he instructed with poorly suppressed amusement as he offered each child a note. "And no more chocolate, Ted...unless you promise to give half of it to me."

After calling enthusiastic thanks over their shoulders, Teddy and Carrie disappeared off up the street to examine the various stalls that had been set up along the road, which had been blocked off from traffic especially for the occasion. The two children had fun looking at all the different stalls. Teddy particularly liked the stall selling wooly hats and scarves, and tried on at least a dozen before Carrie could drag him away. There was a stall selling mince pies, another selling personalized stockings and a third with hand made wooden toys. It did not take them long to discover the stall that was selling an assortment of sweets, from huge slabs of fudge to lollipops and chocolate bars.

"Does your dad like chocolate a lot, then?" Carrie asked as they stood looking keenly at the display.

"You know how your dad is always going on about eating his five fruit and veg a day?" Teddy said as he reached to examine a box of chocolate covered toffees. "Well, that's what my dad's like, except he does it with chocolate."

Carrie sniggered, gloved fingers fiddling with the five pound note in her pocket.

"What sort does he like best?"

"Plain milk chocolate." Teddy supplied, "He buys Honeydukes' Finest. It drives Mum slightly insane, she says it tastes the same as the normal stuff, the only difference is it's about twice the price. She doesn't tell him that, though. He'd just point out she has no idea what she's talking about because she likes fudge better than chocolate. He thinks that's criminal."

"Your parents are funny." Carrie said, recalling the antics she had witnessed through the fence back in September.

"Most parents are. Uncle George says secretly its because they don't want to grow up."

As she picked up a large bar of milk chocolate that was wrapped in shiny blue foil, a silver ribbon tied in a bow around its middle, Carrie frowned deeply.

"Doesn't sound like my mum and dad." she muttered, and Teddy gave a shrug.

"You never know." he said, only to be distracted by something that caught his eye. "Oh look, sugar mice!"

Carrie suppressed a sigh, turning the bar of chocolate she was holding from side to side, watching the twinkling fairy lights above them being reflected in the foil.

"I think I do know." she mumbled, but Teddy didn't hear her.

Carrie spent all of her money at the sweet stall, buying the bar of milk chocolate and a large bagful of butter fudge tied up with bright pink ribbon.

"They're for your parents." she informed Teddy happily as they set off towards the next stall, which appeared to be selling Christmas tree decorations.

Teddy, who was busy struggling to fit the wide bar of white chocolate that he had bought into the pocket of his coat, offered her a bright grin.

"They'll like that!" he told her happily, only for his eyes to widen as something drew his attention and he hurried forwards towards the stall.

"Cool! Turquoise tinsel!"

"I thought you might spot that." Mr. Lupin's voice commented from somewhere behind them and they both spun around to find him stood watching them, smiling faintly.

"Stop DOING that!" Teddy cried, eyes widening furiously, causing his father to chuckle. "Anyway, can we have some turquoise tinsel for the tree, Dad?"

"No, Ted." Mr. Lupin turned and led the way back up the street towards Santa's Grotto.

"Why not?"

"We've already got tinsel. Besides, we're going to Diagon Alley on your mother's day off next week. We'll buy all the Christmas things then."

Teddy began an excited account of the family trip to Diagon Alley the previous festive season, when they had been babysitting James and Albus Potter for the afternoon. They had lost James after only five minutes and Albus had spent the majority of his time sobbing into Mrs. Lupin's cloak after relaying the news that his parents had told him that he was too young to receive a proper broomstick of his own for Christmas.

"...and then we found James in the Owl Emporium, trying to open all of the cages, didn't we Dad?"

It was only when Mr. Lupin failed to respond to this question that Carrie, who had been absorbed in the story, had realized that Mr. Lupin had stopped walking. Teddy narrowly avoided walking into the back of him as Carrie noted that they had passed the grotto and had reached the cross roads at the end of the high street.

"Dad?" Teddy said, reaching to tug at the sleeve of his father's coat, but Mr. Lupin appeared not to hear him.

He was staring at something on the opposite side of the road, and when Carrie stepped sideways to see what he was staring at, she spied a tall, broad shouldered man swathed in a long black coat. He had short, curly brown hair that perched upon his podgy head. He didn't appear to have much of a neck to speak of, but Carrie barely noted this for she was much too preoccupied by his cold, dark eyed gaze as he stared, unblinking back at Mr. Lupin. Carrie averted her own gaze from the stranger, for she felt quite intimidated by him, and it was then that she spied the girl who was stood beside the man.

"I know that girl!" she hissed in Teddy's general direction, not entirely sure why she felt the need to whisper. "That's Amanda Goyle, she lives opposite Cleo, up near the school!"

Teddy opened his mouth to whisper something back when both children jumped as Mr. Lupin took hold of each of them by the arm and began to march them back up the high street towards the fair.

"We're going the wrong way." Teddy pointed out as both he and Carrie turned to look over their shoulders at Amanda Goyle and her father.

"Don't look at them." Mr. Lupin muttered, tugging upon their arms in emphasis, and they obediently looked away again.

"Weren't there Death Eaters called Goyle, Dad?" Teddy asked, stumbling a little at their suddenly brisk pace. When Mr. Lupin said nothing, Carrie asked:

"What's a Death Eater?"

"Where are we going, Dad?"

"Is it something bad? It sounds bad..."

"Dad? Where are we going? Dad?"

"No more questions! Not now!" Mr. Lupin demanded, and they both fell silent, Carrie fixed her gaze upon her shoes. They kept on walking up the street for several minutes, and when he found himself being led down the alleyway beside the butcher's shop, Teddy seemingly forgot his father's demand and said:

"Why are we going down here?"

At long last Mr. Lupin, whose face Carrie noted looked slightly more flushed than was reasonable despite the cold, gave an answer.

"Because we're apparating home." he said as they came to a halt at the end of the alleyway.

Carrie barely heard Teddy's surprised:

"What? All three of..." before she suddenly felt a horrible pulling sensation descend over every single inch of her, and the alleyway seemed to swim before her eyes for a moment, suddenly there came a popping noise and the alleyway was...well..._gone_!


	15. Bedtime Stories

_Note: Hello! Here is another chapter for you...I should warn you now that, since we've had a chapter of Super Fluff, we shall now have a chapter of Super Angst. Again...I apologize! _

_Thank you to my reviewers, you're all wonderful. =)_

_Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor am I making any profit from this piece of writing._

**15: Bedtime Stories**

Carrie Winters stumbled forward a few steps despite the steadying grip upon her arm and, reaching to hug her stomach with one arm, lunged forwards and vomited into a grass verge.

"It's alright, Carrie." she heard Mr. Lupin murmur, his hand coming to rest upon her shoulder, "you'll feel fine in a moment..."

"It might've helped it you gave her a bit of warning, Dad." Teddy, who when she looked up Carrie saw did not look queasy in the slightest, pointed out, but Mr. Lupin said:

"I was in a hurry, I'm afraid. Come on, let's get you inside."

Carrie allowed herself to be led around a corner onto their street, listening numbly to the conversation between the two wizards.

"Was that man a Death Eater?"

"Not precisely..."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well...if he was I very much doubt we'd see him walking around town like that. He'd either be locked up in a prison cell or in hiding. Besides, its not about Death Eaters anymore, Teddy. We're not in the middle of a war anymore."

"He looked as though he wanted to curse you into oblivion, Dad."

Mr. Lupin gave a grim chuckle.

"Him and all the rest of them." he muttered darkly, and Teddy's gaze dropped to the floor as he said:

"Oh...of course..." Carrie watched him reach to grab hold of Mr. Lupin's arm, hugging to him as he asked: "You're not going to move us again, are you?"

"No...not for now at least. They don't know where our house is so there's only so much trouble they can cause. That's why we had to apparate. I didn't want him to follow us."

"How does he know we live here? I mean...we could just be visiting the fair...or something..."

"Of course we live here, Ted. Why else would we be in a place as unremarkable as this?"

Teddy looked positively miserable as his father reached to unlock the front door, throwing the door open wide and striding into the hallway.

"Dora?" he called, glancing into each room as he went towards the kitchen, shrugging off his coat as he went. "Are you home yet?"

"Why would Mr. Goyle want to curse your dad into oblivion? Does that mean he's a wizard too?" Carrie asked as she and Teddy shuffled over the threshold, but Teddy seemed very focused on the task of unbuttoning his coat and didn't answer her.

"Up here, love!" Mrs. Lupin's voice called from upstairs, and Mr. Lupin strode back up the hallway, abandoning his coat draped upon the bannister as he headed up the stairs.

"You should probably sit down for a bit." Teddy decided, turning to eye Carrie's sickly complexion a little worriedly. "I'll fetch you a bowl or something...in case you're sick again."

As her friend hurried off in the direction of the kitchen, Carrie shuffled into the sitting room and sat herself down upon the sofa. She still felt a bit on the nauseous side, but the muggle found that she was much more concerned with the whirlwind of information that had once again he hurled at her with little if no explanation at all. That in itself was cause to feel sick, let alone experiencing apparation for the first time...

_I've just disappeared from one side of town and appeared on the other...by magic...that's what it must feel like to be like them, to be a witch, to do magic..._

Carrie attempted to ignore the excitement that bubbled up inside of her in order to focus on everything else that had happened, the cold look upon Mr. Goyle's face, Death Eaters and cursing people into oblivion. She still could not imagine why anybody would be so hostile about having the Lupins around, why they would cause trouble, make them want to leave...

They weren't leaving for now at least...that had been what Mr. Lupin had said...but now or later, leaving was still leaving, Teddy and his parents could be gone forever...

Carrie bit her lip in an attempt to stop herself from crying as Teddy came into the room and offered her a large plastic bowl. Carrie took it with a small nod and set it down upon her knees, watching her friend drop down onto the sofa beside her, drawing his feet up off of the floor so that he could hug his knees to his chest.

"You must think Dad's gone a bit mental." he said, voice terribly solemn.  
Carrie wasn't quite sure what she thought, so she didn't say a word.

"Before we lived here...when we were in the other houses...it was bad if people recognised us...if they recognised Dad." Teddy explained, voice not much more than a whisper as he rested his chin atop his knees. "They don't like him living near them, other wizards. Some of them...they can be dead mean...they...do things."

"What sort of things?" Carrie whispered, shifting a little closer towards him, and his eyes drifted closed with a sigh.

"Nasty things to try to get him to leave." he mumbled vaguely, frowning into his eyelids. "They all recognise him, you see, since he's sort of...infamous. He's the one who get married to an Auror and had a son. That's...unheard of for people like my dad, so everybody's heard of him. They like him well enough until they realise he lives just up the street...then they do stuff. Mum says it would be okay if it were just her and Dad, but they get a bit worried when I'm around. We're not exactly in mortal danger, but it can make life miserable. Especially if its people like the Goyles...I've heard of them, they're a nasty family."

Yet again Carrie found herself longing to ask what _people like his dad_ were like, but at that moment they heard footsteps on the stairs and after a moment Mrs. Lupin came into the sitting room. Today, Carrie saw, her hair was a dark, mahogany brown and her expression was just as somber as that of her son.

"Dad's having a lie down, Ted." she said as Teddy reluctantly opened his eyes and stared at her. "He's...tired. So I want you to give him a bit of space, okay?"

"He's going to get worse now, isn't he?" the boy said dully, arms tightening around his knees.

His mother came to stand before him, reaching to smooth his hair as she murmured:

"Of course not, love. Just...try to be good, won't you? Don't annoy him, stay cheerful..."

"He keeps snapping at me, all the time..."

"I know, love. Don't take it personally, he's just..."

"Down. I know. And he will get worse, I know it, if people start giving us trouble again."

"With any luck we won't have any trouble, Ted. And Dad'll sort himself out, you just have to give him a bit of space like last time."

"He wasn't like this last time. He's much worse..." Teddy's sentence became muffled by his mother's robes as she leant to pull him into a hug.

"Don't worry, Sweetheart, he'll be fine. Besides, what's all this miserable talk, hm? We've got the Potters and a few Weasleys coming round for tea this evening! That'll be fun, won't it? Tell you what, Carrie could stay the night, we could stay up late and tell her all about the War! What d'you think, Ted? I could morph Snape's face again when I answer the door and make Grandma Molly scream, Carrie's never seen that trick before, it'll be a giggle!"

Teddy's enthusiasm for this suggestion was not a patch on that which he had had for Santa's elves, but he did cheer up a little when he accompanied Carrie next door to ask her mother's permission and fetch her pajamas. When Arthur and Molly Weasley arrived some hour later and the Potters some half an hour after that, the atmosphere was merrier and downright noisy to say the least. As she watched Mr. Lupin ladling lamb casserole into bowls, chatting to Arthur Weasley about plans for Christmas day, in between a loud, yet distinctly light hearted argument with his wife about her preferred Christmas decorations, Carrie could scarcely believe that he was as depressed as Teddy claimed. But when she had pointed his out to Teddy, who was busy hiding behind the kitchen door in an attempt to escape the hyper-active hurricane that was young James Potter, he had smiled a little and mumbled:

"He's a good actor."

And before she knew it, Carrie found herself crammed into an armchair with Teddy, James and Albus sat fidgeting upon the carpet as the adults settled down to tell a very long bedtime story.

"Make Uncle Remus tell it!" James demanded when Harry drew in a deep breath to begin. "He tells stories better than you do, Daddy."

Harry closed his mouth again, frowning a little as beside him, his wife Ginny attempted to smother a snigger.

"How can Uncle Remus tell it better than Daddy?" Albus asked his sibling, eyes widening as if offended on his father's behalf. "Daddy's the main character!"

"But Uncle Remus does the voices." James stuck out his tongue and waggled it in Albus' direction, only for Ginny to point out:

"I don't think anybody does the voices for this story, James."

"Yes they do! _Voldemort talks like this_!" James cried, dropping his voice a good few octaves, eyes widening quite alarmingly.

"I never told him that, honestly..." Harry mumbled as Molly and Arthur looked somewhat appalled. Mrs. Lupin, on the other hand, seemed to find this highly amusing and did a very poor job of suppressing a shout of laughter.

"Besides," James continued, seemingly oblivious to his grandparents' disapproval. "Daddy's told it about a million times! I've never heard Uncle Remus tell all of it at once before!"

Mr. Lupin, who had been sat silently beside the door on a stool brought in from the kitchen throughout the little debate, looked vaguely embarrassed at James' blunt insistence, but he obediently began:

"Well, this story really begins many, many years ago, with a man named Tom Riddle, who we all know as..."

"VOLDEMORT!"

"...exactly, James, Lord Voldemort. He was the most feared Dark Wizard of the time, and by the time of our story he had gathered together a following of people..."

"The Death Eaters!"

"...who, as James rightly puts it, he called his Death Eaters. Now, Voldemort may have been the most feared and powerful Dark Wizard of the age, but there was one, extremely powerful wizard who he feared..."

"Dumbledore!"

"James, stop interrupting your uncle and let him tell the story!"

"The wizard's name was Albus Dumbledore, and he founded a secret society to fight against Voldemort and his Death Eaters. It was called the Order of the Phoenix. Quite a few people joined the Order, including a group of friends, whose names were James and Lily Potter, Sirius Black, Peter Pettigrew and Remus Lupin..."

"The Marauders!"

"James, for the love of Merlin!"

"But I'm right, Mummy, they were called the Marauders!"

"Nanna Lily wasn't in the Marauders..."

"Don't be picky, Al..."

"Shh!"

Mr. Lupin waited for a long moment until he had everybody's attention again, before continuing.

"James and Lily Potter had a son, whose name was Harry." He exchanged a small smile with the dark haired Auror sat opposite him. "And one day, something terrible happened..."

"I don't like this part." Albus whispered, ducking his head as if attempting to block out the sound.

"Voldemort went to the Potters' house, intending to murder all three of them for refusing to join him. He killed James first, then Lily, but when he tried to kill baby Harry something extraordinary happened..."

"Uncle Remus?"

"Yes, James?"

"You haven't been doing the voices!"

"Nobody's SAID anything yet..."

"Shut up, Al..."

"Shut up yourself, Uncle Remus is trying to tell us the story..."

The storytelling went on long into the night, and at times Carrie found it a little difficult to follow. No matter how often his mother scolded him, James continued to interrupt Mr. Lupin at every possible opportunity, and did the same to Harry when he took over to tell them about his time at Hogwarts. They got a little sidetracked when James started a debate with his aunt about the various reasons why she was happy to morph a pig snout, but refused point blank to demonstrate the weird and wild face that was Bellatrix Lestrange. Then, once the story of the War itself began the adults began to interrupt one another and discuss small, insignificant details for long periods of time as if they had quite forgotten that they were telling a story at all. Carrie had hoped they might give some clue as to what Mr. Lupin's "condition" was, but nobody seemed to mention it much, except for it made him suitable for a "special mission". There was a general lull in proper storytelling when Harry had recalled:

"And of course that was the summer when Remus and Tonks got married."

"Bloody nightmare." Mrs. Lupin had muttered, and Mr. Lupin had nodded his agreement, causing Molly to comment that really, that was no way to talk about the happiest day of their lives, and Mrs. Lupin had expressed her astonishment that her wedding had managed to be as successful as it had been. The following fifteen minutes were filled with her, Harry and Ginny's utter disgust and ridicule of a woman named Umbridge.

By the time Voldemort was lying dead in the Great Hall of Hogwarts and Mr. Lupin had dramatically announced The End, both James and Albus had fallen asleep upon the floor and most of the adults appeared to have drunk a little too much wine. Carrying a sleeping son each, Harry and Ginny had wished everybody a goodnight and disappeared into the floo, and Arthur Weasley had offered to help Mr. Lupin tidy up the kitchen before he and his wife left too. Teddy and Carrie had been summoned to help too, and so they had left the two remaining witches to talk.

Carrie had made to return to the sitting room to collect the last of the empty wine glasses when she had stopped just short of the door at the sound of what sounded distinctly like a soft sob. Glancing back down the hallway towards the noisy activity in the kitchen to find the door had swung almost closed behind her, the muggle flattened herself up against the wall and peered into the sitting room.

"Come along, Tonks dear, I'm sure it's not that bad."

Molly Weasley was sat beside Teddy's mother upon the sofa, one arm around the younger witch who was busy dabbing at her eyes with a large, lacy handkerchief.

"That's what I keep telling him," Mrs. Lupin said with a sniff, "but I don't think he...he just doesn't listen to me, Molly!"

Somewhere in the back of Carrie's head, a little voice told her to turn around and walk away, but she found herself rooted to the spot, worried to move in case they caught her spying.

"Of course he listens to you!" Molly insisted, patting Mrs. Lupin comfortingly upon the arm.

"I don't know...you know some days...some days he doesn't talk to me, he just...just sits and stares at the wall. And I look at him and I just think...I'm fighting a losing battle."

The older witch sighed heavily, frowning down into her lap.

"It's...difficult." she mused as Mrs. Lupin's hair shifted colour to a dull shade of blonde. "He needs...purpose. Distractions..."

"He needs a job, that's what he needs! If not he's going to waste away from boredom...either that or die of shame..."

"He has no reason to be ashamed..."

"Try telling him that! Stupid Gryffindor pride, that's what it is! I knew it would come back and bite us in the behind one of these days. Dragons don't change their scales. I thought having everybody round might cheer him up...but it was a stupid idea..."

"Don't be silly dear, it was a wonderful idea..."

"No it wasn't. He's stopped going round to Harry's, you know, hasn't been for weeks. He doesn't go anywhere much if he can help it, I think people make him worse. Those kids who used to ask him for help with things, ask his advice, they're all grown up, going out to work and looking after their families...I think he's happy to see them but its playing havoc with his mind all the same. I don't know what to do, Molly. I don't know what to say to him anymore..."

The door to the kitchen gave a soft creak and Carrie leapt away from the doorway, turning to see Arthur Weasley back out of the kitchen, calling his goodbyes as he went. Luckily he did not appear to find Carrie hanging around the hallway suspicious in any way, for he simply offered her a warm farewell and said that it had been a pleasure to meet her. She watched him bustle into the sitting room, Mrs. Lupin cramming the handkerchief down the side of the sofa as she got to her feet to bid him goodbye.

"Thanks for coming, Arthur." she murmured as she gave him a hug and Molly got to her feet.

"You tell Remus," Molly instructed as she too gave Teddy's mother a firm hug, "I'll be expecting him tomorrow morning, I've missed him coming round for tea and biscuits and I won't take no as an answer."

"Thanks Molly."

"You're welcome, dear. I'll come and drag him into the floo if he doesn't show up! You'll keep those spirits of yours up, won't you, Tonks dear?"

"I'll do my best."

"Good."

As the two Weasleys set about flooing home, Carrie hurried back towards the kitchen.

Tucked up in a makeshift bed upon the floor of Teddy's bedroom that night, Carrie struggled to sleep. She was much too busy worrying about Mr. Lupin. She could not quite decide whether or not it was strange to feel so much concern for somebody else's father, but she supposed she did not want the bubble to burst, to have the perfect little fantasy she could immerse herself in ruined by such dark moods and sadness. And whatever the problem was, she was sure that the Lupins did not deserve it, it wasn't fair. They were much too nice to have life treat them as it did, it made Carrie feel depressed too.

At 2am, according to the clock upon Teddy's wall, Carrie got up to use the bathroom, only to pause at the sight that met her when she began to open Teddy's bedroom door. She had barely pushed it closed a little when the door across the landing opened and Mrs. Lupin slipped quietly out of her bedroom door, walked to the top of the stairs, and looked down as Carrie had done at the figure sat at the bottom.

"Are you coming to bed, love?" the witch called softly, and when her husband made no response she let out a soft sigh and crept down the stairs until she was stood just behind him. She sat down on the step above him, arranging her legs at his side and reaching to put her arms around him. Head resting against the back of his neck, she asked:

"What are you thinking?"

There was a long pause, and Carrie slowly pushed the door open a little further and strained her ears to listen. She was vaguely aware that, yet again, she was eavesdropping, but for some reason she could not seem to persuade herself to go back to bed. She wanted to hear, to work out exactly what was wrong, to actually understand the full picture for once.

"I'm thinking...I'm tired." the wizard finally replied, fingers drumming thoughtfully upon the wall beside him. "I'm tired of...everything."

His wife's grip upon him tightened as her chin came to rest upon his shoulder and she asked:

"Are you tired of me?"

He turned abruptly and took both of her hands in his, bordering on panicked when he swore:

"Merlin, no! Never." He allowed her to lean to press a kiss to his cheek before admitting: "And that makes it so much worse."

She settled her head upon his shoulder and reached to pull his arm around her until he consented to holding her to him, and they stayed that way, sprawled upon the dim staircase in silence for a long moment before she yawned and mumbled sleepily:

"I love you, you know."

His murmured response was too quiet for Carrie to make out as he leant to press a kiss to her temple. Then they were silent for some five minutes or more and Carrie's suspicions that all conversation was over with were confirmed when the witch shifted her weight further against him and let out a soft snore...

Only to jerk awake at the earsplitting crash that sounded from the sitting room across the hall.


	16. The Plummet

_Note: Super Angst again. Sorry! But it's important to the plot, honest! (Besides, you all secretly love it really!)_

_Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor am I making any profit from this piece of writing._

**16: The Plummet**

There was glass everywhere.

Carrie Winters stood numbly beside Teddy Lupin, staring at the scene before her with such shock that she barely noticed what was going on around her. She did not register Mrs. Lupin's cursing as she staggered over to a chair, a large shard of glass impaled in the sole of her foot. She did not feel Mr. Lupin pushing past her and bolting towards the front door, disappearing into the darkness outside, and Teddy's quiet sobbing at her side fell on death ears.

The sitting room's large window was completely void of glass and the remnants coated the interior like a layer of glitter. It made the room look like some sort of terrible Santa's Grotto, glittering menacingly in the light of Mrs. Lupin's wand. Carrie wondered if anything so terrible had ever looked so beautiful, and how on earth could somebody cause glass to shatter in such a manner? This was no rock through a window, the muggle was sure, and the realisation sent a shiver down her spine.

Carrie tore her eyes away from the room to look sideways at Teddy, who she had barely spoken a word to when they had both thundered down the stairs to investigate the source of the crash, and found that as he stood sniveling, tears running in fast, furious cascades down his cheeks, he gaze was fixated upon the sitting room's wall to their right. When Carrie turned to see what he was staring at, she found herself wanting to frown rather than cry. Upon the wall, glowing faintly in the wandlight, was a large, luminous silver circle.

Having squinted for a long, unsuccessful moment down at her foot, Mrs. Lupin had risen carefully from her chair and limped cautiously back towards the doorway, reaching to envelope her son in her arms.

"It's alright, Teddy love." Carrie heard her whisper as the boy let out a choked sob into the folds of her dressing gown. "It's alright, Dad's gone to take a look, it's okay..."

"M...make him come back!" Teddy whimpered, slumping against his mother miserably. "Make him come back in...inside..."

"Dad can look after himself, Sweetheart. Besides, he's going to put some wards up before the neighbors see. We'll be untouchable once he's finished, you'll see. Your dad knows enough protective charms to keep even Voldemort busy, and these thugs aren't a patch on him."

A series of soft glowing lights outside caught Carrie's attention, and she shuffled sideways a little towards the witch in alarm, only for Mrs. Lupin to reach to draw her into the hug too and assure her:

"It's only Remus, Carrie love. Nothing to worry about."

Carrie allowed her face to become buried in Mrs. Lupin's side, eyes closed as she took a few deep, calming breaths. The fluffy pink material was warm and soft. It smelt of flowers.

She was not entirely sure how long they simply stood there, it could have been minutes, it could have been hours, and through the soft flowery haze a single word dug its way into Carrie's mind and refused to go away:

_Why? _

_Why would anybody do such a thing?_

_Why would they do it to such good people? _

_Why could the world be so cruel? _

_Why?_

When Mr. Lupin finally returned, wand still in hand, Mrs. Lupin disentangled herself from the two children and the two adults huddled by the front door and murmured to one another in hushed voices. By now, Teddy seemed to have cried his eyes dry, and he stood, staring down at his feet in silence until his father stepped past Mrs. Lupin and told the children:

"It's okay now, you should go back to bed."

Teddy obediently shuffled towards the stairs and Carrie went after him. They did not speak a word to one another as they went into Teddy's bedroom and climbed into their beds. They lay, staring up at the ceiling and listening to the muffled movements of Teddy's parents downstairs. Carrie wondered if one of them ought say something...though she wasn't quite sure what, until Teddy rolled over onto his side and, peering at Carrie through the darkness, asked:

"What would you say if I told you that my dad is a werewolf?"

Carrie turned to stare at him for a long moment.

_Well_...she thought to herself as he shifted under his duvet impatiently, that hadn't been quite the sort of something that she'd been thinking of...

Determined to do what she usually did when faced with the bizarre however, Carrie forced herself to offer her friend a smile and replied:

"The same thing as when you said you can fly on a broomstick, or that you're going to go to a school for wizards, Teddy. You're COMPLETELY bonkers!"

Teddy frowned deeply at her smile, but after a moment he smiled too.

"Nothing can surprise you anymore, can it?" he said, sitting up in bed so that he could looked at her more easily. "You just...accept everything, nothing bothers you. I tell you my dad turns into a bloody thirsty monster every full moon and you just...just smile at me as if I'd told you the weather's going to be sunny tomorrow."

Carrie felt herself blush at being thought strange and reached to fiddle with the buttons on her pajamas. She was not quite sure what she thought of this new revelation, indeed she was not even sure the news had sunk in at all. It was nothing but words just then. The only way to deal with it was to simply wait, it would make some sort of sense, have some sort of impact once she had time to think.

"Should I be bothered?" she asked, pursing her lips together thoughtfully, and Teddy mumbled:

"Well...no..."

"Good." Carrie stifled a yawn and pulled the blankets up to her chin, eyes drifting closed. "Well...night, Ted."

There was a long silence.

"Is that it?" Teddy asked, and she opened one eye to squint up at him.

"Is what it?"

"Is that it? Is that...all you've got to say? _My dad's a werewolf...okay goodnight_...?"

"Your dad can be a werewolf, vampire, zombie, whatever Ted, I don't care. D'you know what else he is?"

"What?"

"He's a wonderful person. I wish I had a dad like him."

Once again, there was silence, before Teddy finally mused:

"I've never met a zombie before..."

Even when she looked back on that night, Carrie Winters could never be completely certain why she had chosen to react the way she did. Sometimes she thought it was because she hadn't had time to think through the true implications of the word werewolf. Sometimes she thought she had been simply too tired to be suitably shocked, and sometimes she thought she had known deep down that there was only one reaction she could possibly give that would keep Teddy from bursting into tears all over again.

But most of the time she concluded that she had simply felt compelled to be entirely honest.

Honest or not, she had still spent a long time lying in bed, thinking about what she knew or at least suspected about werewolves, and drifted off to sleep with her mind full of images of sharp teeth and claws. When sleep had completely engulfed her she was disturbed by snapping, tearing, ripping...

She awoke at 3:30am with a gasp, and rushed to bury herself under the blankets, eyes screwed tight shut.

_It was just a dream...just a dream...it wasn't real..._

Except it was. There were such things as werewolves, and there was one in that very house...

Carrie attempted to focus on what she had told Teddy before they had fallen asleep, what she was sure were her true feelings on the matter, but it was a struggle after her nightmare, especially when somewhere outside a dog barked and startled her more than ever.

She briefly considered the possibility of waking Teddy up and bombarding him with questions about werewolves, in an attempt to dismiss the nightmarish image that was still lurking in the back of her mind. She even considered simply climbing into bed beside him for comfort. She felt horribly conflicted, sleep seemed impossible.

_I'm not going to get scared_, she told herself firmly, _I don't care if he's a werewolf, I don't care..._

_I like him. He's nice, I've been here a million times and nothing bad has ever happened to me..._

_He's a good werewolf. Surely there can be such a thing. There are good and bad people, after all, so why not werewolves too?_

Logic made her feel calmer, rational, and her mind began to wander to other things, like how dry her throat felt. She needed a glass of water.

Carrie carefully disentangled herself from the blankets and climbed out of bed. She reached to pull the door cautiously open before slipping out onto the landing and heading for the stairs.

She was barely halfway down when she realised that she was not the only one who was out of bed.

Through the sitting room's open door she caught sight of Mrs. Lupin crouched upon the floor, a bucket at her side as she scrubbed furiously at the remnants of the big silver blemish upon the wall.

"Will you let me help you yet?" Mr. Lupin's voice inquired dully from somewhere within the room, Carrie suspected he was either sat on or stood beside the sofa.

"No!" Mrs. Lupin insisted, reaching to dunk the cloth she held somewhat viciously into the bucket.

"You've got work tomorrow."

"Sod work!"

"Dora...please..."

At the sound of footsteps the witch turned abruptly away from the wall, arm raised and wand pointing somewhat threateningly in her husband's direction.

"Don't even think about it!"

"I don't see why..."

"Because that's what they WANT! Well SOD THEM, Remus! You're not cleaning up after them..."

Despite her firm hold the wand suddenly seemed to slip from her grasp and Carrie watched it soar up into the air and disappear into a corner. There was a long silence as the witch's eyes widened in shock, before she cried: "I can't believe you just did that!"

"You should keep your voice down." Mr. Lupin told her as he stepped into view. "You'll wake the children up."

"Have I ever told you what a complete and utter git you are?" his wife asked him conversationally, dropping the cloth into the bucket with a soft splosh and stepping forward to slip her arms around him.

"Oh yes. On many, many occasions."

"I thought I had. D'you think you'll ever take any notice of me when I do?"

"It's...unlikely..."

"Git."

"Did you say something, my love?"

The witch let out a soft chuckle, mood seemingly diminished as she rose up upon the balls of her feet to press a kiss to his lips. He reached to wrap one arm around her waist, and Carrie was about to duck down behind the bannister, feeling embarrassed to intrude, when the romantic little interlude was disturbed by the bucket levitating a few inches off the ground and slowly moving forwards until it bumped into Mrs. Lupin's leg.

"Re-_mus_!" the witch exclaimed as the bucket fell back to the ground with a soft bump, narrowly avoiding slopping a strange looking liquid all over the carpet. "Stop it! I mean it, I'll do it on my own...I...what? What's wrong?"

Carrie watched the werewolf turn his back on his wife for a moment, hand reaching to rake through his hair as she made to reach for him, only to think better of it.

"I'm...I'm making it worse, aren't I?" the witch observed, head bowing shamefully and he finally turned back to face her.

"I need you to stop getting angry." he said as his hand finally dropped back to his side.

"I know. I know you do, it's just it makes me so mad..."

"But I need you to stop. And then I need you to go to bed."

"I'm not going..."

"And when you come downstairs in the morning and find I've cleaned everything up on my own I need you to say nothing. I need you to just let me do it."

Mrs. Lupin thought through the request for a long moment before asking:

"Can't we do it together?"

Mr. Lupin stooped to pick up the bucket and stepped past her to set it down beside the wall again.

"No, we can't. You've already done far too much."

She watched him reach for the sponge and set about scrubbing at the silver upon the wall and in the silence that followed it finally occurred to Carrie what it was that they were attempting to clean away.

It was a giant full moon.

"So...you reckon I should just go off to bed and leave you down here to slog your guts out all night on your own, until you either fall asleep from exhaustion or go in search of the fire whiskey?"

The werewolf began to scrub harder.

"Since when have I ever done something like that?" he asked incredulously, and his wife shrugged, though he could not see.

"Well...since never, I suppose. But I know what rock bottom looks like, love, I watched Sirius plummet into it and I'm not convinced you're not heading the same way..."

"That's absurd."

"Why?"

"Because!"

"Hate to say it, but that's not really a reason now, is it?"

Mr. Lupin said nothing. His wife folded her arms firmly across her chest and watch his efforts for a while before she sighed heavily and said:

"You're gong to move us again, aren't you?"

He paused to dunk the cloth into the bucket again, scowling over his shoulder at her.

"You make it sound like I don't factor your opinion into the equation at all!"

"Well of course you do, but..."

"But we move BECAUSE of me..."

"I didn't mean it like that. I'm not complaining..."

"Not out loud, but you think it."

"Sweet Merlin..."

"Just go to bed, Dora."

"You're being completely unreasonable."

"In which case you should definitely just go to bed."

"FINE! I will!"

Carrie flinched at the sudden shout as the witch reached to grasp hold of the werewolf by the shoulder and turn him roughly around to face her.

"I'll go to bed!" Mrs. Lupin hissed, free hand balling into a fist. "But I'm telling you now, Remus, your marital status doesn't alter with your bloody mood swings! If you want to let yourself crash and burn then that's entirely up to you! But just remember that I love you, we are MARRIED, and if you're going down you're taking me AND TEDDY with you!"

And with that she turned on her heel and stalked out of the room. Carrie made to dash back up the stairs, but found she had barely reached the top when she glanced back to find Teddy's mother stood at the bottom, staring up at the spy with wide eyes.


	17. Crying Over Spilt Milk

_Note: Beginning tomorrow, I am going to be much busier than before. Next week it is my birthday, and, amongst other things, I will also be registering at University. So, I apologize if updates begin to slow down in the near future._

_Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor am I making any profit from this piece of writing._

**17: Crying Over Spilt Milk**

Breakfast had never been a more awkward affair.

It was quite possibly the worst morning that Carrie Winters could ever recall experiencing. And yet it had not been a patch upon the night before hand when Mrs. Lupin had caught her eavesdropping upon the stairs. Carrie had felt quite frightened at the sight of the witch staring up at her from the hallway, she had flinched in anticipation of the complete and utter fury that she had been sure would follow. But then something unexpected had happened. Teddy's mother had made her way slowly up the stairs, reached to put an arm around Carrie's shoulders and whispered:

"Come on, Carrie love. Back to bed."

And then, to Carrie's numb disbelief, she had simply led Carrie back into Teddy's bedroom and tucked her back into bed. As the blankets had been arranged carefully around her, Carrie had found herself compelled to say something, because the silence was all a bit too much for her to bear. She did not know exactly what she should say, but for some reason as she stared up at the witch's blank mask of concentration tarnished by distinctly watery eyes, she found herself admitting:

"I know he's a werewolf."

She supposed she had wanted to say something truthful, to do something honest to prove that she wasn't just a nosy little intruder who liked to poke her nose into other people's business.

Her revelation caused Mrs. Lupin to pause in her meticulous arranging of blankets for a brief moment, her face grew cautious and she asked:

"How do you feel about that?"

Carrie had pursed her lips together in thought and recalled again what she had said when Teddy had posed a similar question. Looking at the carefully composed yet rather fragile expression upon Mrs. Lupin's face, she suspected that this question would require a similar answer. So she ignored the very images in her mind that had led her to be awake at such an hour in the first place.

"It doesn't bother me." she decided, and she had hoped Mrs. Lupin would look relieved or pleased to hear it.

But instead, to the child's panic, tears had began to seep from the witch's eyes, hastily swiped away upon the back of her sleeve.

"Your a good girl." Mrs. Lupin had whispered, rising hurriedly from her crouched position beside the makeshift bed, and Carrie had desperately attempted to decipher what it was about her answer that had reduced the witch to tears. It was not until Mrs. Lupin had disappeared back out of the door that Carrie remembered that she still needed a drink of water. But she had not dared to get out of bed again to fetch one.

When she had stood in the bathroom the next morning, watching Teddy squeeze toothpaste onto his brush, Carrie had told him that she had told his mother what she knew.

"I told her it doesn't bother me...but she didn't seem very glad..."

"Did she start crying?" Teddy asked as he squinted at his reflection in the bathroom mirror.

"A bit..."

"Yeah. She does that sometimes. Just ignore her." As he offered her the toothpaste, Teddy explained: "Mum has two reactions to what people think about Dad. If he bothers them then she gets mad, and if he doesn't bother them she cries."

"Why?"

"Because she's mental, maybe? I don't know."

Carrie had felt relieved that Teddy seemed to be acting reasonably normal despite the events of the night before, but then she had found herself following him down to breakfast and she had instantly wished that she could just leave and go home.

They had entered the kitchen to find a grey-faced Mr. Lupin sat hunched in a chair, mug of coffee clasped in both hands. Carrie could not quite decide whether or not he was staring at her as she walked in, or at the wall behind her, and she immediately began to wonder if Mrs. Lupin had told him about her shameful spying the night before.

"You look rubbish, Dad." Teddy had observed as he padded over to the cereal cupboard to find himself some breakfast. He was right, Carrie saw as she trailed after him. The werewolf's eyelids seemed heavy from lack of sleep and exhaustion weighed him down with dark circles beneath his eyes. He was still dressed in the crumpled clothes he had worn the day beforehand. Carrie wondered if he had ever gotten around to going to bed.

When Mrs. Lupin stumbled into the kitchen a few minutes later and made a bee line for the coffee upon the stove, Carrie had decided that going to bed and sleeping were probably two entirely different things. The muggle soon had her attention glued upon her cereal bowl, however, after Mrs. Lupin had wished her a good morning and she was almost certain that the witch had exchanged a look with her husband before he disappeared behind the morning newspaper.

The adults did not speak a word to one another for some ten minutes, and Carrie found herself convinced that, despite the newspaper held up before him, Teddy's father was still staring in her direction.

"Molly's expecting you this morning." Mrs. Lupin announced as she dusted toast crumbs from her fingertips.

"Mm."

"She says she'll come and drag you into the floo if you don't show up."

"Mm."

"You should probably put some fresh clothes on before you go, you know?"

"Mm."

"Remus? Are you actually listening to me?"

Teddy sniggered into his cereal bowl and Carrie could scarcely believe that he could think the whole atmosphere was amusing in the slightest. Then again, she thought dully as she shoveled cornflakes into her mouth, Teddy didn't know quite what she did.

"I was wrong, Carrie." the boy announced as Mrs. Lupin reached to snatch the newspaper out of her husband's hands, leaving him to stare at her, expression mildly outraged. "I have met a zombie!"

"Tea. At Molly's. On time, _or else_! Got it?" Mrs. Lupin summarized impatiently, and Carrie feared she might reach across the table and throttle him when Mr. Lupin informed her:

"I heard you the first time."

"Sweet Merlin..." the witch grumbled, shooting her son's laughter a filthy look before throwing the Daily Prophet down upon the table and getting to her feet.

Despite the looks that she was still convinced had been directed at her throughout the whole event, Carrie had thought that, overall, Teddy's parents had manage quite a successful facade at first, considering that whilst watching their rowing the night before Carrie had been considering the idea that the marriage Mrs. Lupin had shouted about might not last all that much longer. She considered it again when the facade began to show noticeable cracks as, his reading disturbed, Mr. Lupin leaned back in his chair, folding his arms across his chest and inquired:

"Were you planning on going into work looking like that?"

"Oh yes." Mrs. Lupin told him as she poured herself a second mug of coffee, seemingly forgetting that Carrie and Teddy were in the room. "Because miniskirts are the height of practicality when chasing after Dark Wizards. I was thinking of some stiletto heels, too."

"You are going to work today, aren't you?"

"And then, once I've tripped and broken my ankle, you can have the pleasure of picking me up from Mungo's this afternoon. How's that sound, love?"

"You're not going, are you?"

"Of course I'm not bloody going, Remus!"

"Why not?"

"I've owled in sick."

"You're not sick."

"Obviously not."

"You're skiving."

"Your powers of deduction astound me, love."

Carrie felt her cheeks warming, embarrassed as Mr. Lupin pursed his lips together against whatever retort came to mind.

"And your flawless reasoning for setting Ted such a sparkling example is...?"

"I knew you wouldn't approve and I wanted to irritate you. More importantly, I'm going to my mum's house."

Carrie could not help but muse that this was the sort of thing that she'd seen on those soap operas her friend Stephanie back in Tillbury had liked to watch on the television; couples screaming at each other until they were blue in the face, before the woman would storm dramatically to the front door and, flinging the door open wide, shriek: _I'm going to my mother's!_

The Lupins were not nearly as melodramatic. Indeed, Mr. Lupin simply reached for the newspaper again and disappeared behind it, muttering:

"Suit yourself."

They did not speak another word to one another whilst Carrie was in the house.

Which was not a particularly long period of time, because Carrie chose to make her escape as soon as Teddy had finished slurping the milk from the bottom of his cereal bowl.

She spent the following few days at Cleo's house, watching DVDs including the Wizard of Oz, Bed Knobs and Broomsticks and The Witches. Carrie had never seen The Witches before, but she found herself taking little notice of the plot, for she was too busy wondering if Teddy would notice she was avoiding him. She felt guilty about her decision to keep her distance from her best friend, but she was much too embarrassed to have been caught eavesdropping on his parents to risk being invited into their house again. She didn't want to admit to Teddy what she had done, either. Besides, her magical neighbors just didn't seem all that magical anymore. No longer did she long to escape from the dull, boring world of her own house to the exciting, perfect world next door.

She'd been wrong. It was a lie. The Lupins were not perfect in the slightest.

She felt judgmental for thinking such a thing, for she was sure she could not even begin to comprehend what sort of impact being a werewolf could have on a marriage, or any aspect of life for that matter. They had more right than most to have a few bad days like everybody else. The only conclusion that Carrie could reach was that Teddy had been wrong to lend her his Gryffindor scarf on the last day of school, because clearly she wasn't brave or courageous in the slightest. She wasn't brave enough to bite the bullet and carry on regardless.

When she woke up on the fourth day, however, Carrie was to find that she could only hide for so long, because at some point she needed to do what was right.

Hiding wasn't right. Especially when she stepped out of her front door, ready to head over to Cleo's house again, only to find all three Lupins on their driveway.

Their distinctly silver-looking driveway.

As Carrie pulled the door shut behind her, watching Mr. Lupin dump a familiar looking bucket down upon the gravel, Teddy caught sight of her and she offered him a wave.

Teddy turned his back on her.

He's noticed, Carrie thought dully, biting her lip for a moment before drawing in a deep breath and striding over towards the family as confidently as she could manage.

"Hi Ted!" she greeted enthusiastically, and though the two adults paused in their discussion to murmur surprisingly warm hellos, Teddy merely eyed her coldly.

"I lodged the complaint days ago," Mrs. Lupin was saying as she and Mr. Lupin turned their attention back to the silver stain upon their drive. "Bloody pen pushers, they're useless, they probably won't even write back to me until after Christmas."

"I should have set the wards at the bottom of the drive." Mr. Lupin mused, looking down at the bucket with a frown. "It should soak off, don't you think? That's going to cost a small fortune in cleaning fluid."

"Ah well," the witch sighed heavily, lips pursed together in consideration. "There might be an easier way, you know. We could ask Molly, she's bound to know something useful."

The look on Mr. Lupin's face suggested that this was quite possibly the worst suggestion he had ever heard, and, fearing drama, Carrie was quite glad when she felt Teddy grab hold of her by the arm and drag her back towards her own driveway.

She was less glad when they came to an abrupt halt and, folding his arms firmly across his chest, Teddy had asked:

"What do you want?"

"I was just saying hello." Carrie mumbled, taking a small step away from him at the sound of his blunt question. "Like I always do..."

"Not anymore you don't." Teddy accused, eyes widening challengingly, and Carrie felt her heart sinking.

"Well...well I do...I did just now..."

"You've not so much as glanced my way in days, you haven't knocked like you usually do and you ignored me when I called over the fence to you yesterday!"

"I didn't hear you..."

"You're a liar."

"I'm not! I've been at Cleo's house, if I thought you'd get so upset I'd have invited you too. Besides, it's only been a few days..."

"I doubt you would invite me. You're probably lying again. You do it all the time. You even lied to me about my dad."

Glancing nervously over his shoulder at the man in question, Carrie swallowed hard.

"I don't know what you're talking about." she admitted, biting her lip when Teddy gave a snort of disbelief.

"Shall I remind you?" he asked, scowling faltering a little as his shoulders slumped dejectedly. "You said you didn't care what he was, that it didn't bother you!"

"It doesn't." Carrie insisted truthfully, but this only seemed to upset Teddy further.

"Why don't you just tell the truth, Carrie?" he cried, and behind him his parents paused in their own disagreement to look over at the two children. "It DOES bother you! If it didn't you wouldn't be avoiding me like the bloody dragon pox!"

"Theodore..." both parents began in warning, but Teddy did not seem to take any notice of them.

"I TRUSTED YOU!" he exclaimed, throwing his hands up in emphasis, hands balling into frustrated fists. "You're the only one I ever told, I thought you were different but you're NOT! Well you're WRONG! You're WRONG about him..."

"That will do, Ted." Mr. Lupin insisted, and Carrie felt more mortified than ever when the boy rounded on his father and cried:

"SHUT UP, Dad! I'm trying to stand up for you!"

Silence fell like a lead balloon upon the driveway, and as his mother's jaw dropped in astonishment and his father's eyes widened in shock, Teddy shoved his hands in his pockets and looked down at his shoes in misery at his slip up.

"What did you just say...?" Mrs. Lupin finally asked, voice a pitch higher than usual as her son hunched his shoulders. "Did you...did you honestly just tell your FATHER to SHUT UP?"

"Dora..." Mr. Lupin mumbled, and Carrie bit her lip in anticipation as she watched the witch purse her lips firmly together as if struggling to suppress her outrage.

Teddy shuffled back a step, eyes still fixated upon his shoes.

"I suggest, Theodore," his father began, in a tone that made Carrie sure that there was no real suggesting about it, "that you stop trying to stand up for me, and try having a some respect instead."

"Yes Dad." Teddy whispered, eyes still upon the ground, and at that very moment the door to Carrie's house opened and Mrs. Winters appeared upon the front step.

"Is everything alright out here? I heard raised voices..." Carrie's mother called, and Carrie plastered a neutral expression onto her face, though she was not entirely sure why.

"Perfectly alright." Mr. Lupin assured his neighbor, eying his son meaningfully as he explained: "Teddy was just about to apologize to Carrie, weren't you Teddy?"

When Teddy turned to her and offered a profound apology, Carrie could not be quite sure whether or not he was being sincere, but she smiled at him all the same.

"Come in, Teddy." Mrs. Lupin called, walking briskly towards their front door. "I want a word with you."

Carrie could have sworn that she heard Teddy gulp as he obediently set off after his mother. The muggle wished that her own mother would stop nodding her approval and go back inside the house.

Instead, Mrs. Winters wandered further outside and began asking nosy questions about the state of the Lupins' driveway. As Mr. Lupin began to lie about what he suspected had happened, Carrie made her escape up off the road, drawing her coat firmly around her.

Carrie did not confide in Cleo that she was afraid her best friend now hated her. She was worried that the other muggle might make some sort of vague, unhelpful comment such as _Oh well, he'll get over it_, because Carrie wasn't sure that she would be able to stand words so dismissive. This was serious, worrying, downright tragic. If Cleo failed to realise it, Carrie would probably say something she would regret and then she wouldn't even have an almost-best-friend either.

To Carrie's surprise, it was Cleo who mentioned Teddy first. They had just retreated inside from the front garden because Cleo had spotted Amanda Goyle and her big brother walked down the street towards them.

"You do realise your friend Teddy is pals with those bullies, don't you?" the dark haired girl said accusingly as she hurried to close the front door firmly behind them.

Carrie had found herself feeling quite offended.

"He most certainly is not!" she had cried, and Cleo had snorted and, kicking off her shoes, muttered:

"That's not what I've heard."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Carrie asked as she reached to unbuckle her own shoes and put them neatly against the wall.

"The Goyles and the Lupins are old friends." Cleo explained, rolling her eyes as if it were terribly obvious. "Mr. Goyle used to go to school with Mr. Lupin, or something."

"How do you know that?" Carrie said, failing to point out that this was quite possibly the most ridiculous story that she had ever heard.

"That's what Mr. Goyle said." Cleo led the way into the kitchen, heading straight for the fridge.

"You think Amanda Goyle and her family are the worst people imaginable!" Carrie pointed out as she stopped just inside the doorway, arms folded defensively across her chest.

"They are." Cleo agreed distractedly, extracting two small bottles of strawberry milkshake from the fridge with silent triumph.

"Well then how do you know what Mr. Goyle does and doesn't say? If you hate the family so much you don't talk to them, do you?"

"Of course I don't talk to them..." Cleo mumbled as she set the bottles upon the counter top and pushed the fridge door shut.

"Then how do you know?" Carrie pressed, irritated on such an irrational attack upon the Lupins' character.

"I don't usually talk to them." Cleo corrected as she walked over to offer Carrie a milkshake. When Carrie simply stared at her, eyes growing steadily wider, she pushed the bottle into her hand.

"What do you mean you don't usually?" Carrie managed to ask at last, heart hammering in her chest as she finally consented to closing her fingers around the cool plastic bottle.

"Mr. Goyle was at the Christmas Fair with Amanda." Cleo recalled, expression distinctly uncomfortable at the memory as she wandered to look absentmindedly out of the window. "They came over to me when I was looking at the sweet stand. He said he'd seen you with Mr. Lupin and Teddy, he wanted to know how you came to be friends with them..."

"And you said?"

"Well I said you lived next door to them, obviously, and he said he wanted to drop in on them or something...he said he hadn't seen Mr. Lupin for years, he hadn't realised they lived so close to one another and he'd like to go and visit, catch up or whatever. He asked for the address, so I told him..."

"WHAT?" the bottle slipped from Carrie's hand, yet she barely registered it hitting the floor, milkshake splattering out over the floor, running in tiny streams along the gaps between the tiles. "What did you go and do that for?"

"I know," Cleo muttered, turning to frown at the mess that Carrie had made. "I figured I didn't really want to talk to him at all if I could help it, but he just walked off and struck up a conversation...I was so confused I just sort of went along with it...he's dead creepy looking, you know, it was a bit scary...I'll get you a cloth."

"Oh no!" Carrie shrieked, reaching to grasp clumps of her hair in agitation. "Do you have any idea how terrible this is?"

The completely uncomprehending stare that Cleo fixed Carrie with was clear confirmation that no, she had no idea whatsoever. By the time Cleo opened her mouth to tell Carrie that she was being slightly hysterical and more than a little silly her words fell on deaf ears as Carrie appeared to have burst into tears.

"It's all my fault!" she cried, eyes screwed shut in complete mortification.

Cleo frowned deeply as she went to stoop down, cloth in hand.

"For goodness sake, Carrie!" she grumbled as she began to soak up the puddle. "There's no point crying, its just a bit of spilt milk!


	18. Evil Dark Wizards

_Note: I apologise for the lack of updates – I spent a while updating The Dark Creature's Child and have been busy with University this week. However I have a few days spare...so...here goes..._

_I will also take this moment to apologise for any low updates in the near future. I imagine that the situation will get worse rather than better once my lectures begin! Changes are I will end up writing little one shots more often so that I don't distract myself with chapter fic dwelling plot bunnies!_

_We are in actual fact nearing the end of this story...probably! I have yet to come up with a sequel, but there WILL be one! So, I invite you all to **suggest a title for the sequel**, beginning as this one did with **"Meet the..." **_

_So come on, let's hear the suggestions! You never know, you might have me inspired!_

_Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor am I making any profit from this piece of writing. _

**18: How to Bring Evil Dark Wizards to Justice**

Carrie Winters stood upon the doorstep, plastic bag clasped firmly in her hand as she reached to knock upon the door. As she waited for the door to be opened, the muggle weighed up her chances that her preferred Lupin would open the door.

She certainly didn't want it to be Teddy. He would probably slam the door in her face, or worse ask her what she wanted just as he had done that morning on the driveway. The coldness of his eyes were painful.

Mrs. Lupin wasn't a much better option, since Carrie felt far too embarrassed to meet her eye, let alone have a full blown conversation with her. With any luck she would be at work.

There was the small hope that Mr. Lupin was unaware of Carrie's disgrace, and therefore Carrie hoped with all her might that he would be the one to open the door.

When a moment later her wish was granted, she was very relieved indeed.

"Good Afternoon Mr. Lupin." she greeted when Teddy's father appeared from behind the door.

"Hello Carrie," the werewolf smiled at her in such a way that she felt foolish for thinking that he knew a single bad thing about her. "Are you here to see Teddy?"

Carrie shook her head, grip upon the bag tightening purposefully.

"Actually..." she mumbled, scuffing her shoes upon the step. "I came to talk to you." At his questioning look she admitted: "It's about the Goyles."

Mr. Lupin sighed heavily, but nevertheless stepped aside to let her in. As she took off her shoes and followed him towards the living room, she couldn't help but ask:

"Where is Ted?"

"He's gone to Joshua's house, he's going to stay for tea."

"And Mrs. Lupin...?"

"Was due back from work fifteen minutes ago. She said she was going to be popping to the shops before she came back."

"Oh..." As she dropped down onto the sofa and watched Mr. Lupin take a seat in the armchair, Carrie silently found herself hoping that whatever was keeping Mrs. Lupin would keep her a little while longer. Once they were both settled in their chairs, Carrie drew a deep breath and admitted:

"It's all my fault."

As he leaned back in his chair, the wizard raised an eyebrow.

"It all meaning...?"

"The Goyles. The...the things they've been doing. It's all my fault."

"Why?"

Carrie fixed her socks with a despairing stare.

"Because I told Cleo where you lived...and...and then Cleo told Mr. Goyle."

"Ah."

Carrie looked up to find Mr. Lupin's gaze upon the ceiling, his fingers tapping thoughtfully upon the arms of his chair.

"Have you considered, Carrie," he asked, "that, using logic such as that, we are pretty much all to blame? It's Teddy's fault for befriending you in the first place, it's my fault for stopping the Obliviators, it's Dora's fault for deciding not to obliviate you on the spot, it's your parents' fault because you were born in the first place...the fact of the matter is, Carrie, the only people to blame here are the Goyles."

Carrie felt her cheeks warming, and she felt rather silly, but Mr. Lupin didn't seem to notice, he was too busy pulling a pocket watch from his pocket and observing the time with a frown.

"Twenty minutes late." he muttered, and Carrie said:

"My dad comes home late all the time. Sometimes hours late."

Mr. Lupin closed the watch with a click and put it back in his pocket.

"Dora's timing is always very precise. It's important she isn't late." He rose to his feet and walked to the front window, pulling the curtain aside to peer outside.

"Why?"

"Because there are a great number of reasons why an Auror might be late home from work. Lots of them aren't very nice."

Carrie shuddered at the thought.

"Of course there are plenty of far more pleasant reasons. I expect she's been delayed at the shops."

Carrie couldn't help but think that for the Lupins, even the local shops were not the safest of places.

"I'm going to put the kettle on." Mr. Lupin announced, and Carrie stood up and trailed after him into the kitchen, still clutching hold of her bag. As she watched the werewolf set the kettle down upon the stove, she reached into the bag and drew out the chocolate that she had bought at the Christmas Fair.

"Mr. Lupin...?" When he had turned to face her, the muggle felt a little silly with her plan to give him his Christmas present early. She had felt compelled to do so out of guilt, a sorry I've ruined your life sort of apology, but since he had dismissed her guilt as illogical she wasn't quite sure why she was still going ahead with her plan. She just...wanted to...

"Merry Christmas!" she declared nevertheless holding out the gift for him to take. "It's early...I know...but...well..." Struck by sudden inspiration she recalled: "You already gave me a present early too!"

She waited for the surprise to slowly fade from his face, replaced by a warm smile, and as he accepted the chocolate Carrie positively beamed.

"How wonderful!" he enthused as he examined the shiny blue foil as if it were made of pure sapphire. "You're very kind, Carrie."

"I've something for Mrs. Lupin too." Carrie told him, feeling very pleased with herself indeed as she withdrew the fudge from the bag. She was about to suggest that he pass the gift on to his wife when he offered:

"Well you can wait for her if you like, she'll only be a moment I'm sure."

And then there came a loud thudding noise from down the end of the hallway.

Carrie turned to look towards the front door, and just as Mr. Lupin made a beeline for the door, the girl found herself shuffling over to the kitchen doorway, peering cautiously into the hallway as Mr. Lupin reached to open the door...

Mrs. Lupin seemingly fell across the threshold, and Carrie wondered if, had it not been for Mr. Lupin throwing his arms around her, she would have fallen flat on her face.

"Sorry I'm late." the witch announced as Mr. Lupin tightened his grip upon her, seemingly hold her upright.

"Sweet Merlin, what happened to you?" the wizard cried, shuffling back a few steps, dragging his wife inside and reaching with an awkward hand to shut the door.

"Don't ask." came the reply, muffled by his jumper. "Just...just don't even ask."

Mr. Lupin shuffled them both round until he was facing down the hallway and began an awkward walk towards the living room door.

"I'm getting to old for this." Carrie heard him mutter, and Mrs. Lupin's reply was lost in his jumper again.

Carrie waited for them to disappear into the living room before slowly walking down the hall to investigate, heart hammering in her chest.

Teddy's mother certainly hadn't looked injured at all, and yet Carrie felt apprehensive to say the least.

"...straight through the shop window, I swear Remus, the man's a bloody maniac!"

Mr. Lupin was easing the witch down upon the sofa, and as she slumped down onto the cushions, she offered him a weak smile and concluded:

"So, I figured I'd let you patch me up."

"You didn't think of going to see...what's her name?"

"Claudia?"

"Mm."

"She's off sick. And before you say it, no, I wouldn't go to Sloane if you PAID me. I'd much rather you did it."

As he reached to unbutton her scarlet robes, Mr. Lupin frowned.

"Well I think you're foolish. He's a professional."

"A professional what, Remus? Professional pervert, maybe, you should have seen him when Jasmine came back from that raid in Manchester..."

"It's better than going to Mungo's."

"I don't need to go to Mungo's, I'm not dying for Merlin's sake...OUCH!"

Mr. Lupin hastily withdrew his hand from it's probing inspection of her stomach.

"I won't ask where it hurts then." Carrie heard him mumble, and the muggle took a few steps forward to get a better look as he reached to grasp the hem of the witch's jumper and carefully peel it back to reveal...

Carrie's stomach clenched at the sight of unnaturally neat bruising that adorned Mrs. Lupin's torso, a deep purple trail that lead from one set of ribs down one side of her stomach, disappearing under the waistline of her jeans.

"Looks like you've really outdone yourself." Mr. Lupin observed with a deep frown. "I'll see Carrie out and find the Bruise Away...if it'll do any good..."

When she climbed the stairs to her bedroom a few minutes later, Carrie felt panicked. Her imagination was running away with her, the snippet of conversation that she had heard about the shop window had her worried.

What if Mrs. Lupin hadn't gotten hurt at work?

What if it had happened whilst she was at the shops?

What if the Goyles had something to do with it?

Recalling the silent confrontation on the way home from the Christmas fair, remembering how cold and menacing Mr. Goyle's gaze had been, Carrie was not entirely sure that she wouldn't put it past him to do something as horrible as this. By the time she had curled up on her bed, teddy bear clutched comfortingly to her chest, Carrie Winters was pretty sure that yes, whatever had happened to Mrs. Lupin had everything to do with the Goyles. They were evil people, she was sure of it. Teddy had said there had been Death Eaters called Goyle, even if Mr. Lupin had said they weren't connected. What if they were? How many families called Goyle who were magical could there be? And if one branch of the family was evil enough to be Death Eaters...why not the rest, too?

At such a conclusion, Carrie Winters felt frightened to say the least.

It was getting worse, she thought miserably. And what if it got even worse still? Something needed to be done. Somebody needed to stop the Goyles.

And, Carrie decided as she stared up at the photograph of her and Teddy sitting in his back garden, that somebody was going to be her.

How one went about bringing evil dark wizards to justice, however, was not a subject in which Carrie was particularly knowledgeable. She supposed it worked the same way as catching muggle criminals did, except it was probably much more tricky.

What I need, the girl decided as she stared thoughtfully up at the ceiling of her bedroom, is evidence. Proper, unquestionable evidence.  
Surely that was why nothing had been done up until now, the Lupins had no proof that the Goyles were behind the vandalism, the attacks. Surely if they could go to the Ministry with concrete evidence something would finally be done about it.

Carrie thought about all the police shows she had seen on television over the years, searching for some method that might help her...

And then an idea hit her, and she made a run for the nearest telephone.

There was a very long silence on the other end of the phone, before Cleo Clancy told Carrie Winters:

"I still don't understand why you want me to do it."

Carrie sighed impatiently, giving her foot a stamp as she sat in the swivel chair of the family study.

"BECAUSE!" she cried, eyes widening irritably as she gripped hold of the telephone tighter than ever. "It's TOP SECRET! Honestly Cleo, haven't you ever seen James Bond?"

"Well yeah..." her friend mumbled uncertainly. "But...James Bond's not real, Carrie. I'm not going to sit up all night long just for pretend..."

"It's not pretend, it's SERIOUS!" Carrie exclaimed, infuriated that her friend could take her silly notions of magic so seriously and yet fail to see a true emergency when shown one...

Even if it was an emergency she couldn't know the truth about.

"What's so serious about the Goyles being at home or not? Besides...where are they going to go? It'll be the middle of the night! Who goes out in the middle of the night?"

"The Goyles do, that's who!"

"But...so what?"

Carrie bit her tongue in an attempt to stop herself shouting and drew in a deep, calming breath.

"Look," she said, legs swinging back and forward under the desk. "I didn't want to tell you the truth in case I get in trouble." Her gaze drifted towards the ceiling as she decided: "The truth is, Cleo...and you can't tell ANYBODY about this because then I might get put in jail or something...the truth is...I've put a curse on them!"

Predictably, Cleo was suddenly very interested.

"COOL! What sort of curse?"

"A...sleep walking curse. That's why I need you to keep watch for me. I want to know if it's worked or not."

"And then you want me to phone you as soon as I see them?"

"Yes. So...will you do it?"

"Sure!"

Carrie grinned at the sudden change in tone.

"Great!" she exclaimed, and then she hurriedly said goodbye and bounded into the hallway and over to the cupboard under the stairs. There she put phase two of her plan into action, reaching past the hoover and broom to squint at the assortment of objects upon the shelves at the back of the cupboard.

"Looking for something, love?" her mother called from the kitchen, and, when she finally spotted what she was looking for, Carrie smiled to herself as she called back:

"Nothing much."

Carrie placed her father's video camera upon the living room window sill. She placed the spare phone handset under her pillow. And then she waited for bedtime.

She had a very long wait. But once it came she did not have to wait very long to wish that she had never decided to poke her nose into the affairs of wizards and werewolves.


	19. He's Coming To Get Me

_Note: WOW 2 chapters in one day! Don't thank me yet, though, not only is this one super short but you might want to kill me when you read the end of it..._

_Don't forget those sequel titles! =)_

_Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, now am I making any profit from this piece of writing. _

**19: He's Coming to Get Me**

It was precisely 1:34am when Carrie Winters was awoken by the shriek of the telephone under her pillow. Resisting the urge to let out a shout of surprise, the muggle hurriedly fumbled for the receiver and hit the answer button.

"Hello?" she said groggily, attempting to blink the sleep from her eyes.

"Carrie, it's me!"

At the sound of Cleo's voice, Carrie sat bolt upright in her bed, heart instantly beginning to race.

"Cleo?"

"Well yeah...were you expecting somebody else?"

"Have you seen something?"

"It's Mr. Goyle, I think. He's just walking down the driveway."

Carrie fumbled to throw the duvet off of her and got out of her bed, pulling on her slippers and dashing for her bedroom door. At the door she paused when Cleo said:

"Wait..."

"What?" Carrie hissed, reaching to open the door as quietly as she could.

"I don't think he's sleep walking...I think you've done it wrong, Carrie...Carrie? Carrie are you there? Hello...?"

"Shh!" Carrie crept across the landing and down the stairs, and when she deemed herself far enough away from her parents' bedroom door she asked: "What's he doing now?"

"He's walking down the road."

"Towards school?"

"No, the other way...wait...wait I can't see him anymore..."

"You can't?"

"No I...I think...Carrie I think he's just disappeared!"

Having just reached the bottom of the stairs, Carrie heard the distinct pop of apparation.

"This is it!" she cried, reaching to switch on the driveway lights and making a dash for the living room window, ignoring Cleo's bemused:

"This is what?"

Abandoning the phone upon the window sill, Carrie grabbed hold of the video camera and hurriedly turned it on. She was just hitting the record button when she noticed movement outside.

"Yes!" she whispered triumphantly to herself as Mr. Goyle appeared at the bottom of the Lupins' driveway.

The light outside was not too good, and Carrie hoped that the camera footage would be clear enough to identify Mr. Goyle, as he stood looking up and down the street, no doubt checking that nobody was around. He had the sense to wear dark clothing, the same big, black coat that he had been wearing the first time that Carrie had seen him, but then he reached for something in his pocket and quite suddenly his face became illuminated by the soft glow of wandlight.

As she stood, camera clutched in both hands, Carrie grinned.

This is it, she thought to herself, heart still hammering in her chest, this is it! I've done it, I've caught him...

Mr. Goyle raised his wand, and a thin jet of silvery light shot forwards towards the Lupins' front door, only to evaporate mere meters into its journey, as if an invisible barrier stood between him and the house.

"Ha!" Carrie smirked, sticking her tongue out mockingly at the man. "That's not going to work, Mr Lupin's much too smart for you!"

Seemingly this was a very accurate description of Mr. Goyle's efforts, for he stood flinging spells at the invisible barrier for some long minutes, each with a more frustrated flick of his wand than the last. And Carrie found herself having quite good fun, sitting there pulling faces at the oblivious intruder.

It was then that she noticed that muffled talk was still coming from the telephone. Carrie reached to pick it up again, camera held carefully in one hand.

"Cleo?"

"At last! I've been yelling your name for AGES...what's going on?"

"Not a lot." Carrie supplied, pausing to blow a raspberry at the man outside...

Only to freeze and bite her tongue when she realised that he appeared to be staring directly at her.

"Oh no..." she breathed, practically dropping the camera in her attempt to hide it from view. Cleo's confusion fell on deaf ears as Carrie stared in mute horror out of the window.

Mr. Goyle stared right back at the little muggle girl who was peering out of her living room window at him.

And then he turned and took a few steps on past the Lupins' house.

And began to walk purposefully up the Winters' driveway.

Carrie dropped into a crouch below the window, eyes screwed shut in pure terror as she squeaked:

"He's...he's coming to get me!"

"What the hell are you talking about?" Cleo asked, sounding more than a little irritated at her friend's odd behavior. "Who's coming to get you? This is silly, Carrie, you should just go back to bed..."

"Mr Lupin!"

"...Mr. Lupin is coming to get you? Carrie, what..."

"NO! Shut up Cleo! Just...just listen!"

"Okay, calm down..."

"Shut up!"

"Okay..."

"I need you to do something for me, it's very important!"

"What...now?"

"Yes!" Carrie paused to hug her knees to her chest as she heard the formidable crunch of gravel underfoot coming from outside. "I need you to wake Mr. Lupin up for me."

There was a long pause, Carrie felt hot, terrified tears begin to trickle down her face before Cleo said:

"Don't be mental, Carrie, it's in the middle of the bloody night..."

"I mean it, Cleo!" Carrie hissed as she heard heavy booted feet step onto her front step. "I've never meant anything more in my whole entire life! You have to get out of bed, go and get your bike..."

"It's the MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT!"

"...ride over here as fast as you can and wake him up!"

"You're out of your mind."

"Please Cleo! Please, please..."

"I'm not going outside now, I'll probably get murdered or something. And I don't even KNOW him..."

"Cleo, listen to me..."

"What would that look like? Hi, you don't know me, sorry I just woke you up in the middle of the night but my mate told me to..."  
"CLEO!" At Carrie's voice breaking into a desperate sob, Cleo finally stopped talking. "I need you to do this, Cleo." Carrie whispered as she heard the distinct sound of the front door handle being tested. "I...I'm in trouble! I'm in t...trouble and...and the Lupins are...are the only ones who can help me."

Again, there was a pause, and to Carrie's horror she heard the sound of a lock clicking.

"Wow..." Cleo breathed, sounding more than a little stunned. "You're not messing with me, are you?"

The front door was being pushed open. Carrie attempted to wedge herself in between the sofa and the radiator.

"Wake...wake them up and...and tell them...tell them I...I need help..."

"You do realise you're scaring the crap out of me, don't you Carrie? Carrie? Hello...?"

As she stood peering out of her bedroom window at the Goyles' house across the road, Cleo Clancy frowned deeply.

"Carrie!" she hissed, heart beginning to pound in her chest. "Say something will you? I mean it, this isn't funny, you're scaring me...Carrie?"

It was at that very moment that the phone went dead.


	20. Cleo's Mission

_Note: Despite what I have mentioned to a number of reviewers, my imagination has not quite forsaken me yet! So, here is an update for you all! When the next one will be I cannot possibly say, and I am sorry in advance if I find myself unable to update for any long period of time. _

_I would like to take this opportunity to say thank you very much to everybody who reviewed the last chapter, I had not expected such a flood of reviews in my inbox and you have made me smile despite everything that has been happening to me recently! So...thank you! _

_Most importantly, thank you to those of you who wished my grandad well. Truth be told I don't really know any of you, and you probably only did so in passing, but thank you nevertheless. Unfortunately whilst I was halfway through writing this note, my dad came into my room to inform me that sadly my grandad has passed away. Again, excuse my lack of updates. _

_Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor am I making any profit from this piece of writing._

**20: Cleo's Mission**

When she had been younger, Cleopatra Doreen Clancy had despised her middle name. She had complained to her mother that it was the most boring, normal sort of name ever, and she didn't understand why she had to have it.

It was because, her older sister Boudicca had explained, her first name was so utterly ridiculous that she had to have a boring middle name to balance things out a bit. Cleopatra had dismissed this notion as silly, since as names went Boudicca was equally as ridiculous, and despite this the elder of the two sisters had been given the middle name Wilhelmina, which didn't seem to balance anything out at all.

Benjamin and Saskia Clancy's naming of their daughters, though faintly obscure, had in one respect been very logical: each daughter was named after one of their grandmothers, Boudicca after Saskia's mother Wilhelmina and Cleopatra after Benjamin's mother Doreen. Boudicca liked to point this out to people when she met them, explaining that her parents' sensibilities had kicked in a little too late: had they always been sensible she would have been named something normal like Rosie or Hannah. Cleopatra was forever thankful that she hadn't been born a boy; she could have been an Imhotep or a Claudius, though sometimes she wasn't too sure; Claude would have been quite acceptable, or she could have been named after Alexander the Great or Richard the Lionheart, and people would probably have never noticed.

When she was ten years old, Cleo decided that she was in actual fact glad to be named after her Nana Doreen. This was firstly because she preferred Nana Doreen to Grandma Wilhelmina. Cleo had met Grandma Wilhelmina only twice in her living memory, since she lived in Germany and rarely traveled further than the her local butchers shop. On the rare occasion of her Grandma coming to visit, Cleo would always find herself under intense scrutiny and resented the fact that Bowie was clearly the favoured granddaughter. Wilhelmina would tell Cleo's parents repeatedly how beautiful Bowie was, such a charming little girl, and yet she would also tell them that Cleo looked grubby and should spend less time running amok in the garden and more time giving her hair a good brush.

"If I wanted to visit a grandson," she'd announced loudly to Saskia at the dinner table one evening, "I would go to see your brother in Berlin! His little boy Bruno is a lovely, lovely child."

Cleo had seen her Nana Doreen on a much more regular basis, for she had lived just the other side of town. It was thanks to Nana Doreen that Cleo had become so interested in magic and witches. She had had a mole upon her chin and had told three year old Cleo that it was a magic mole. The stories that followed had captivated Cleo for years. Nana Doreen had also baked the most wonderful cookies that Cleo had ever tasted and she used to let Cleo help her make cakes for tea. And yet this was not the primary reason why ten year old Cleo decided that she was glad to be named after her Nana. Doreen had died when Cleo had been nine, and the little girl had told her father that it was nice that she had Nana Doreen's name to keep her memory alive. This, however also failed to be the reason why Cleo was truly glad to have the name.

Cleo was glad to have her name from the day she had found out about Nana Doreen's volunteer work in Africa. When her father had told her about it, Cleo had wondered why her Nana had never mentioned it, and Benjamin had said it was because everybody would be proud of her and she hadn't liked a fuss.

Cleo was very proud to say the least, not to mention impressed, for her father had claimed that the area that Doreen had visited had in actual fact been very dangerous in parts. Cleo was proud to have a brave grandmother, and she vowed to try and follow Doreen's example in life.

Dead telephone humming in her ear as she stood staring out of her bedroom window, Cleopatra Doreen Clancy could not help but think that perhaps this was precisely the time to ask herself: What would Nana Doreen do? As she pressed the end call button and tossed the phone in the direction of her bed, Cleo thought she knew the answer.

By the time she had pulled the front door closed behind her, Cleo wished that she had bothered to change out of her pajamas, rather than simply pulling her coat on over the top, for the weather was truly bitter and it sent a shiver down her spine. Nevertheless she headed down the side of the house to fetch her bicycle and before she knew it she was cycling along the dimly lit street towards the main road. At first she wished that she could reach the main road faster, for the side street was eerily quiet and she found it quite unnerving. Almost as soon as she turned the corner onto the main road, however, Cleo wished the exact opposite, for the roar of passing traffic made her heart pound in her chest and she bent low over the handlebars as she approached a trio of men who were staggering up the road towards her. At the sound of their loud, rowdy voices the girl pedaled faster, feeling a little relieved as she shot past them, ignoring one of them shouting after her, some drunken comment about it being past her bedtime. She was glad not to come across anybody else on her little journey, though the drunken men had shaken her nerves and she was feeling decidedly less brave when she finally turned the corner into Carrie's road some while later.

Carrie's road was even more quiet than Cleo's own road, for there was no main road nearby. There were tall trees at precise intervals along the road, casting dark, creeping shadows in Cleo's path and she slowed her pace, concentrating on counting the houses she passed, for it was difficult to spot the one she was looking for in the dark. She finally skidded to a halt at the bottom of Carrie's driveway, staring for a long moment at the house.

The driveway was bathed in a soft glow from the electric lamps beside the front door. Abandoning her bicycle upon the pavement, Cleo took a few cautious steps up the driveway, holding her breath as gravel crunched under her feet. She was just panicking at the realisation that the front door appeared to have been left open a crack when something caught her foot and she tripped, throwing her hands out to break her fall with a gasp of surprise. Cleo scrambled back onto her feet, hands stinging in protest as she dusted the specks of gravel from her palms. When she looked down to see what she had tripped over, she felt her stomach twist into terrified knots.

A fluffy pink slipper lay discarded upon the driveway, and Cleo stood rooted to the spot, staring at it for an entire minute before she finally stooped to snatch it up and made a dash for the neighbors' front door.

It had been some days since Remus Lupin had managed a full night's sleep. He had long since taken to sitting downstairs until the early hours and even when he did finally decide to drag himself up the staircase and into bed he slept poorly. He could not seem to help but have despairing dreams and each time he awoke he would stare up at the ceiling above him for so long that before he knew it his wife's alarm clock was buzzing loudly on the bedside table. By the time Tonks had grumbled and complained about having to get up and had stumbled off to get into the shower, Remus would feel much too awake to go back to sleep, the sound of the running water tormenting him as he buried his head under his pillow.

And yet the previous evening Remus had managed to break the routine. It had been easier than he had suspected, though with hindsight he would suppose it could be nothing except easy, what with Teddy being out of the house and Dora being injured enough to be given sick leave, and yet not injured enough to truly need it. It was equally as unsurprising just how quickly a tub of Bruise Away and a discarded pair of jeans could persuade one to go to bed early. Indeed, he had smashed the routine to pieces and both he and Dora had been in bed by 5pm. Truth be told there had not been a whole lot of sleeping involved to begin with, and of course then there had been the sudden alarm and mad scramble for elusive pieces of clothing when they had heard Teddy calling a greeting as he exited the floo, but once they had managed to send their son to bed with the customary mug of hot chocolate and banished the last stray blobs of Bruise Away from the living room sofa, they had gone back to bed and Remus had slept soundly for several hours...

Until he became vaguely aware of something invading his half of the bed, warm air tickled his ear and as the duvet shifted he felt a sudden weight pressed against him.

"Wake up." a voice whispered in his ear, and the werewolf's eyes drifted open to find a head of disheveled pink hair buried into the crook of his neck.

"Hmm?" he managed, attempting to blink the sleep from his eyes as he felt his wife's leg move to rest across his own.

"Can't sleep." Tonks complained, voice muffled by the collar of his pajamas. Her hand came to rest upon his chest, fingers toying with the buttons on his shirt as she muttered: "Bloody bruises...every time I roll onto my side...!"

"More Bruise Away?" he suggested, smiling when she sniggered.

"You'd like that, wouldn't you?"

"Probably."

"Well tough luck love, you were right, it's useless. I should have gone to Sloane."

"I don't know...maybe I didn't rub it in properly..."

Her snigger rose to a giggle, louder still when she withdrew her face from his neck and rolled onto her stomach, legs astride him, one elbow either side of his head as she rested her chin in her hands and grinned down at him. He could not help but be acutely aware that if he were to drop his gaze from her face just a little, he could see straight down her...

"What was that?"

She was moving, turning to look over towards the bedroom door.

"What?" Remus attempted to drag his mind back from wherever it had been headed as he stared groggily over towards the door too.

"I thought I heard a noise downstairs." Tonks said, reaching to push herself further up from the bed, straining her ears to hear.

Remus was vaguely aware that, given his family's current predicament, he ought feel alarmed at such a claim, ought leap out of bed and bolt downstairs. But for some reason he couldn't quite bring himself to care enough to move.

"I didn't hear anything." he told her, and she stared at the door for another moment before giving a small shrug, dropping back down to rest upon her forearms and leaning to press a kiss to his lips.

"Must be imagining things." she murmured, frowning ever so slightly for a moment before offering him another wide smile. "Hey...you remember when I told you that Sloane was a pervert?"

"Mm?"

"Well, d'you know what he reckons works better than Bruise Away?"

"What's that?"

As his wife reached to slide her arms around his neck, leaning to whisper the Miracle Cure All in his ear, Remus was pretty sure he heard a tapping noise coming from...somewhere...but it was little more than a passing thought because his attention was soon much too fixated to muse any further.

Across the hallway in his own bedroom, Teddy Lupin was also wide awake. He had been that way for some ten minutes, for he had woken to discover that he had forgotten to bring a glass of water up to bed with him. He had spent the first five minutes of consciousness feeling irritated with himself. He always took a glass of water to bed, every single evening without fail just in case he woke up feeling thirsty in the night. Most mornings when he awoke he would find the glass upon his bedside table still full. And yet tonight, the one night when he actually needed the drink, he had forgotten to get it.

Teddy supposed he would simply have to get out of bed and go downstairs to get the drink, for he was sure he could not go back to sleep when he throat felt so dry, but he still lay in bed for many minutes contemplating the action, because when he stuck an experimental toe out from under his duvet he had found the room to be terribly cold. He was pretty sure that it would require sheer Gryffindor courage and determination to throw back his covers and make a dash into the arctic climate outside of his bed.

He had no idea that his decision as to whether or not he would risk the chill would have such a huge impact on his best friend's life.


	21. Knock Knock Knock

_Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter._

**21: Knock, Knock, Knock...**

When she looked back at that eventful night, Carrie Winters always wondered why she hadn't screamed when a wizard had broken into her house and dragged her out from her hiding place behind the sofa, why she hadn't shouted for help at the top of her lungs when he had marched her out of the front door and down the driveway, why she hadn't struggled when they came to a halt upon the pavement, hadn't screamed for Mr. and Mrs. Lupin to come and rescue her as she and Mr. Goyle disapparated with a soft pop.

Shock was a funny thing, she later supposed, it did nasty things to your insides and made your legs go weak. And it made you sluggish, indeed it was not until she found herself stumbling across the threshold of the Goyles' house that she realised that she had lost a slipper.

It made you cry, too. Sob, bawl and whimper until your captive couldn't stand it any longer.

"Be quiet!" Mr. Goyle had demanded as he slammed the door shut behind them, but Carrie could not seem to help herself. Finally free from her kidnapper's grasp, her trembling legs gave way and she fell to her knees upon the hallway rug, hunching her shoulders and screwing her eyes closed. Through her shuddering sobs she was vaguely aware of pounding footsteps upon the staircase in front of her and, once they had come to an abrupt halt, a female voice hissed:

"What's going on?"

Gritting her teeth in an attempt to stop her crying, Carrie opened her eyes and looked up to see a woman stood halfway down the staircase. She was a small, thin, rather feeble looking woman dressed in a dark satin dressing gown, mousy brown hair tied in a messy knot at the back of her head.

At the sight of the muggle child sat hunched at the bottom of the stairs, Mrs. Goyle's beady eyes widened in surprise.

"Who on earth is that?" she exclaimed, one long fingered hand coming to cover her mouth in shock.

"She lives next door to them." Mr. Goyle informed her darkly, and Carrie found herself being pulled to her feet by one arm. "She saw me."

Mrs. Goyle visibly paled and she took a few small steps forward, brow creasing worriedly.

"Oh dear...oh dear, oh dear, oh dear..."

"Oh do be quiet, woman!" Mr. Goyle snapped furiously, and he released Carrie again so that he could pull himself free of the big black coat. "It's not going to be a problem."

"Not a problem?" Mrs. Goyle squeaked as she reached the bottom of the stairs, barely grasping hold of the coat that was flung into her arms. As her husband marched off down the hallway towards the kitchen, dragging Carrie after him, she stared after them in disbelief. "Not a problem? You kidnap a muggle girl under the Deputy Head of Aurors' nose and...and it's not a problem...?"

"Shut up and come over here." Mr. Goyle demanded, coming to a halt halfway down the hallway and glancing around as if he wasn't entirely sure what to do with his hostage. "They're all tucked up in bed asleep, aren't they? We'll fix the girl and have her back there before anybody notices she's gone. I said come here! What are you, deaf?"

As Mrs. Goyle scurried up the hallway towards them, Carrie felt hot, terrified tears burning her eyes again at the thought of the Goyles "fixing" her...

What did it mean?

Did she even want to know?

Her heart was hammering furiously in her chest as Mr. Goyle snapped:

"Well, what are you waiting for? Get your wand, woman!"

As Mrs. Goyle fumbled to extract her magic wand from the pocket of her dressing gown, Carrie couldn't help herself, a loud sob escaped her lips and she made to collapse to the floor again, eyes screwed shut in terror.

"Please...please don't h...hurt me!" she begged, choking on salty tears as she felt Mr. Goyle grasp hold of her by both shoulders, holding her upright. "P...please...I...I want...I just want to...to go home!"

"Shh!" Mr. Goyle snapped, reaching to clamp a firm hand over the girl's mouth, positively glowering at his wife. "Just get on with it!"

Carrie dared open her eyes a crack to see Mrs. Goyle raising her wand uncertainly.

"I...I don't know...what do you want me to do...?"

"Modify her memory, of course!"

"M...me..?"

"Yes, you! Who else?"

Mrs. Goyle looked rather like a deer caught in headlights. As Carrie stared back at her, she was pretty sure she looked just the same.

"I...I'm not sure...I mean...what if I do it wrong?"

Mr. Goyle gave an impatient snort.

"You won't." he told her, grip upon Carrie tightening, making the girl jump. "Not if you know what's good for you, at least."

Carrie gritted her teeth against a muffled whimper, only for a voice from upstairs to call:

"Daddy? What's going on down there?"

"GO BACK TO BED, AMANDA!" Mr. Goyle bellowed, and Carrie screwed her eyes shut again at his shouting. "Nosy little child." the wizard grumbled, head dipping to whisper into Carrie's ear. "We all know what happens to nosy little children, don't we, muggle? We know what happens when they stick their noses into other peoples' business, don't we?"

"I'm not sure this is a very good idea, Titus." Mrs. Goyle complained forlornly. "If it were to go wrong...think how much trouble we would be in! What if I...if I wipe her memory completely blank? What if she forgets who she is? Or who they are? They'll notice, you know..."

"You best do it right then, hadn't you? Now hurry up, we don't have much time! If we don't get her back soon her parents might notice she's gone!"

"I don't think I can do it!" At the sound of Mrs. Goyle's feeble voice rising to a shrill shout, Carrie once again dared to open her eyes. The witch was stood, one hand clutching worriedly at her hair, other hand's hold upon her wand limp. "I got turned down by the Obliviators for a reason, you know!"

"Well I'm not a member of the bloody Obliviator squad either!" her husband cried, and Carrie felt his hands trembling with fury upon her shoulder. "What do you want me to do about it? We don't have a bloody choice!"

"You could do it." Mrs. Goyle suggested, half whispering as if she was not at all keen to have her idea heard, and Carrie didn't blame her for quite suddenly the child felt the wizard give her a firm shove sideways, she stumbled into the wall and looked up just in time to see Mr. Goyle advance on his wife, reaching to draw his own wand and pointing it directly at the witch's face.

"If I say you should do it then you'll do it!" he thundered, as his wife backed off until her back collided with the bannister. At that precise moment there came a distant crashing sound from upstairs and Mr. Goyle paused in his threatening to screech:

"TOBIAS! AMANDA! GO TO SLEEP!"

Carrie found herself edging away from him towards the kitchen door, thinking wildly of making a run for the back door, but finding her feet much too heavy to truly cooperate. Besides, even if she made it out into the garden...what then? Surely there was no escape.

What was to become of her?

The noise upstairs seemingly disturbing his train of thought, Mr. Goyle strode back over and reached to grab hold of the muggle by the shoulders, turning her to face the witch whose grip upon her wand had tightened in a frighteningly resolute manner.

"Let's just get it over and done with." he said, and she drew in a deep, calming breath, raising her wand.

Carrie's next breath was less than calm to say the least.

"No..." she whispered, horror-stricken as she watched Mrs. Goyle clear her throat purposefully.

"Right..." the witch mumbled, straightening up and taking a few more calming breaths. "Right, I'll just...I'll just..."

"Just do it!" Mr. Goyle demanded, and Carrie clenched her teeth against a scream as Mrs. Goyle drew back her wand, ready to strike...

Only to give a startled jump, narrowly avoiding throwing her wand up into the air at the sound of somebody knocking on the front door.

Knock, knock, knock...

As Mrs. Goyle spun around to look at the door, Mr. Goyle swore under his breath, pulling Carrie back a few steps towards the back door.

"Who..." Mrs. Goyle began, only for her husband to demand:

"Ignore it! Quickly..."

Knock, knock, knock...

Flustered, Mrs. Goyle turned back to face their captive, drawing in yet another deep breath.

"Right..." she mumbled again, and Carrie flinched in anticipation of her raised wand...

Knock, knock...BANG!

Carrie failed to suppress a small shriek as the front door was blasted straight off it's hinges in a huge puff of smoke, falling flat to the ground with a crash that seemed to make the entire hallway shake.

Mrs. Goyle spun around yet again and backed off until she was stood at her husband's side. Heart racing in her chest, Carrie was just about making out a dark shape through the smoke as it began to clear, when a familiar voice greeted pleasantly:

"Good evening..."


	22. The Swap

_Note: Here we have the Grand Finale! There will be just one chapter after this one, and it will probably be rather short, just to wrap things up!_

_Thanks to my lovely reviewers, you are all very kind!_

_Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor am I making any profit from this piece of writing._

**22: The Swap**

As she watched the three Lupins cluster around their kitchen table in the pitch black dark, Cleo Clancy wished somebody had thought to turn the lights on. It all looked far too ominous.

"Right!" Mrs. Lupin declared, hands slapping loudly against the tabletop as she leant forwards, making the muggle girl stood in the doorway jump. "I have a Brilliant Plan!"

"Do I get to help?" Teddy immediately butted in, and Mr. Lupin instantly said:

"No. Absolutely not."

"Yes, Ted." Mrs. Lupin corrected, to her husband's clear horror, "You certainly do get to help! We can't possibly manage without you!"

"I think we could if we tried..."

"Shut up, Remus."

"The most helpful thing that Ted can do is to go back to bed."

"No, the most helpful thing that Ted can do is to make Cleo a nice cup of hot chocolate. Okay, Teddy?"

"That's not helping!"

"Of course it is, have you got any idea how cold it is outside? She rode here in her PAJAMAS!"

"It's not PROPER helping! It's just a silly cup of hot chocolate..."

"Then you can sit with her until we get home. So go on, there's plenty of milk in the fridge..."

"M-um!"

"I think there might even be some marshmallows in the cupboard..."

"But...!"

"Stop bickering and get on with it!" Mr. Lupin interrupted, and at that moment Cleo couldn't help but wonder if Carrie's insistence that these people were her only possible saviours was wildly misguided.

Once Teddy had shuffled over to the fridge, however, the two adults bent lower over the table and began to murmur to one another in hushed, serious tones and Cleo felt her confidence renewed a little. She tried to catch snippets of what they were saying, but their voices were much too soft, instead she concentrated on squinting through the darkness at their expression, stomach twisting every time Mr. Lupin frowned. At last he sat back in his chair, reaching to run a hand through his hair.

"I'm not sure..." Cleo heard him sigh, "What if it goes wrong?"

Mrs. Lupin gave a small shrug.

"What's wrong with me getting a little extra sick leave?" she asked, rising to her feet and attempting to straighten her hastily adorned jumper.

"What's wrong with you falling and breaking your neck, you mean? Well...a number of things, I imagine...and anyway we need a back up plan. In case it goes wrong."

"We've already got one." Mrs. Lupin announced, waving a dismissive hand at him.

"We do?"

"Yeah."

As Mr. Lupin followed his wife's lead and got to his feet, he asked:

"Care to let me know what it is, then?"

As she strode past him towards their son, Mrs. Lupin reached to tap her husband upon the head.

"If it goes wrong, you have to do some very quick thinking!" she said, and Mr. Lupin stared somewhat blankly after her as she went to give Teddy a brief hug.

"That's our back up plan? _Think quickly_...?"

"Yep! I'm sure you'll come up with something! Now be good, Ted, Dad and I will be back within the hour." As the woman pressed a kiss to the boy's head, Cleo could have sworn she heard her mutter: "Keep an eye on her."

Cleo watched the two adults file out of the doorway and stride down the hallway, snatching up a coat each from the hooks by the door as Mrs. Lupin brightly suggested:

"Well if you can't think of anything you can always drop your pants or something. That's sure to buy you at least thirty seconds..."

And with that, the door closed behind them, and Cleo found herself alone with Teddy with nothing else to do but wait.

For some reason she couldn't quite put her finger on, Cleo couldn't help but feel rather sure that Carrie was doomed.

She should have just phoned the police...

Two minutes later, two figures appeared out of nowhere outside of the Goyle residence, one bolted for the side of the house, and the other calmly approached the front door and reached for the shiny brass knocker.

And it was mere moments later when the front door in question was blasted off of its hinges in a dramatic burst of smoke.

The first thing that Carrie felt when she heard Mr. Lupin's bizarrely polite greeting through the smoky doorway was relief flooding over her, assurance that the nightmare was nearly over...

The second thing she felt was the tip of Mr. Goyle's wand poking her sharply in the throat. Suddenly the nightmare didn't seem nearly over in the slightest...

And yet Mr. Lupin strode into the Goyles' house with an air of complete and utter calm. Carrie watched, surprised despite herself as he observed the wrecked door under his feet with pursed lips before looking up at the trio huddled before the kitchen door and observing:

"Goodness, I've made quite a mess here, haven't I?" he took another few steps forward, seemingly oblivious to Mr. and Mrs. Goyle's astonished stares. "Still, what with our window the other day, I suppose we're rather equal now, aren't we Mr. Goyle?" Apparently he did not expect Mr. Goyle to reply, for instead he stepped off of the splintered wood, down onto the carpet and explained pleasantly: "I've just come to take Carrie home. It really is far past her bedtime."

Carrie bit her lip in an attempt to stifle a gasp as she felt Mr. Goyle pull her back a step towards the kitchen door.

"Get out of my house!" the man growled furiously as his wife simply stared at the werewolf with wide, panicked eyes.

Mr. Lupin smiled.

"Certainly," he said, wand tapping absentmindedly against his leg as he gestured to Carrie with his free hand. "Just hand Carrie over and I'll be perfectly happy to leave."

"You can't have her!" Mrs. Goyle announced, voice shrill as she glanced nervously between her husband and the unwelcome guest. Mr. Goyle shot her a furious look and she shuffled back until she was stood behind him.

"I see..." Mr. Lupin frowned deeply, and Carrie felt instantly worried when he stopped tapping his wand and gripped hold of it instead. "In which case I can see that we might have a problem..."

A furious snarling noise escaped Mr. Goyle's throat, just as there came the sound of a door being opened upstairs, causing Mrs. Goyle to reach and grab hold of her husband's arm.

"Be careful," Carrie heard her whisper into his ear. "The children..."

But at that precise moment, Carrie felt the wand being drawn back from her throat and in one swift movement, Mr. Goyle thrust his arm forward, there was a loud bang and a bright flash of light shot forwards, straight at Mr. Lupin's face. Before Carrie could let out a gasp, Mr. Lupin had raised his own wand and the light bounced backwards down the hallway. Carrie attempted to flinch away from the light, only to feel Mr. Goyle give her a firm shove forwards, straight into the speeding light's pathway...

And upon impact, the child's entire body seemed to go numb, weak, her legs were collapsing underneath her and she was falling to the floor with a gasp of horror, screwing her eyes shut at the sudden explosion of spells that lit up the hallway like a Christmas tree. Carrie buried her face in the carpet, heart thudding furiously in sheer panic at the commotion, fearful at the realization that when she attempted to reach and shield her head with her arms the limbs in question seemed completely incapable of moving.

_What's happening to me?_ Her breathing hitched in panic and she strained to lift her head just a fraction experimentally...her neck felt weak, as if her head had suddenly doubled in weight.

Somewhere above her, Mr. Goyle swore furiously and Carrie dared to open her eyes a fraction when she felt something brush against her hand. The battle appeared to have come to an abrupt halt, and Carrie strained to look round, just in time to see Mr. Goyle making a dive towards her, hand outstretched...

Reaching for the magic wand that lay at Carrie's fingertips.

Gritting her teeth and silently begging her limbs to cooperate, Carrie reached to grab hold of the wand, clenching hold of it with all her might.

"No!" she cried desperately as the man attempted to wrench the thin wooden object from her hand, her fingers throbbing in protest as he attempted to prise them open. "No...you can't have it...you can't...!"

BANG!

As Carrie's grip upon the wand finally slackened, she let out a small shriek as Mr. Goyle was thrown abruptly backwards, the wand flying off into a corner as the man slammed into the closed kitchen door with a crash.

As her husband crumpled to the floor with a moan of pain, Mrs. Goyle was finally snapped out of her petrified state, and Carrie watched her plant herself firmly between Mr. Goyle and Mr. Lupin, and with a horrible, ear piercing screech a bolt of light shot down the hallway. Carrie barely had time to turn back to Mr. Lupin when the spell struck him in the shoulder.

Teddy's father stumbled, and Carrie was about to let out a shout of alarm when his arm seemingly gave a violent spasm, causing him to drop his wand to the floor, when a loud voice suddenly announced:

"That's quite enough violence for one night, thanks!"

Carrie struggled to turn and look for the source of the noise, when she heard slow, thudding footsteps coming down the staircase.

As Mr. Goyle reached to grasp hold of the kitchen door frame, dragging himself back onto his feet, Mrs. Goyle froze, wand still raised.

And down the staircase marched Mrs. Lupin, a positively petrified looking Amanda Goyle just in front of her.

"I'm going to make this very simple for you." the Auror announced as she and Amanda reached the bottom of the stairs. "You give us our kid, and we'll give you yours."

Carrie squinted over at them, and it was then that she noticed that Mrs. Lupin had hold of Amanda firmly by the arm with one hand, and her wand pressed to the girl's throat with the other. For some bizarre reason, Carrie felt the urge to smile. The tables appeared to be turning...

Mrs. Goyle's sudden burst of ferocity was over as quickly as it had begun, her wand arm trembled in horror as she stared at her helpless daughter with wide, astonished eyes.

"You...you wouldn't..." she cried, voice almost a whine. "You can't...the...the Ministry would...would sack you!"

Mrs. Lupin's shrug in response sent a shiver down Carrie's spine. It was difficult to imagine the bright, bubbly witch acting so coldly.

"Yeah, that's probably true." she said as Mr. Lupin came to stand beside her, wand, Carrie noticed, now held in his left hand, right arm limp at his side. "But what about the nasty big werewolf? Wouldn't put it past his type, would you? Nasty, vicious creatures..."

If she had not been preoccupied with her lack of functioning limbs, Carrie would have sniggered at the sarcasm, only to feel an odd mixture of amusement and disgust when Mrs. Goyle let out a loud, hysterical sob and Amanda dissolved into tears.

"Get the door, will you love?" Mrs. Lupin asked her husband cheerily, and he went to pull the front door open. "Right, this is what we're going to do. You're going to help Carrie up, and I'm going to bring Amanda over there and we are going to swap kids. Your husband is going to stand there and point his wand threateningly at me, and my husband is going to stand by the door and point his wand threateningly at you, if anybody tries anything funny they're going to get cursed. We're going to leave the house and you're going to stay exactly where you are and nobody has to get hurt. Got it?"

Mrs. Goyle gave a stiff nod.

The atmosphere was thick with tension as the two witches slowly approached one another, and Carrie felt Mrs. Goyle's hands grasping her around the middle as she heaved Carrie up onto her feet. The muggle attempted to stand, but the muscles in her legs seemed incapable of holding her weight. She found herself being dragged awkwardly up the hallway.

When they finally reached one another, the two witches stood, staring unblinking at one another for a long moment, before with a small nod to one another, Mrs. Goyle pushed Carrie forwards and Mrs. Lupin finally released Amanda, who immediately leapt forwards to throw her arms around her mother.

Carrie fell into her saviour's arms, burying her face in the front of Mrs. Lupin's coat, relieved at the familiar flowery scent that engulfed her nostrils. She felt herself being dragged towards the front door as Mrs. Lupin back away again.

Carrie felt relief begin to wash over her as they passed Mr. Lupin and stepped out into the frosty night air.

And all of a sudden everything seemed to happen at once.

"CRUCIO!" Mr. Goyle's voice bellowed, and Carrie hurriedly turned with a gasp to see a spell shooting towards them...

Only to be deflected with a swipe of Mr. Lupin's wand, and it rebounded back down the hallway, narrowly missing the cowering figures of Mrs. Goyle and Amanda in the corner.

As Mr. Lupin bolted out of the door after them, Carrie's head whipped back round at the sound of an vaguely familiar voice outside calling:

"Tonks...?"

"GO GO GO!" Mrs. Lupin shouted, and Carrie felt disorientated as a group of scarlet figures dashed past them. She had barely heard a series of shouts of:

"AUROR DEPARTMENT! DROP THE WAND!" before she felt the sickeningly familiar sensation of apparation.

And with that the nightmare was suddenly over.


	23. Restoration

_Note: And here we are: the final chapter! This story has over 200 reviews, which is utterly amazing and makes me smile! Thank you so much to everybody who has read and reviewed this story! When I started writing it I had absolutely no idea it would be so popular! XD_

_So...since we are at the end, I would love to know what you liked best about it – best chapter, best lines, best OCs, that sort of thing! _

_There will certainly be a sequel to this story, you will recognise it by the name! I do however plan on completing...or at least updating...The Dark Creature's Child first. I have not come up with a plot yet, so if anybody has any scenarios they would like to see...well do let me know! XD_

_This note is almost as long as the chapter! I don't know why it ended up so short...sorry..._

_Well...I'll stop babbling and just wrap this up now..._

_Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor am I making any profit from this piece of writing. I do, however, own Caroline "Carrie" Winters, her family, as well as Cleopatra "Cleo" Clancy and her family._

**23: Restoration**

Carrie Winters felt somewhat light headed as she found herself being shuffled over the threshold of her neighbors' house. She was vaguely aware of hurried footsteps dashing down the hallway, and a loud voice cried:

"Bloody hell...!"

As Mrs. Lupin eased Carrie through the living room door and deposited her in the armchair, Cleo appeared in the doorway, an empty mug clutched in both hands.

"Is she okay?"

"She's fine. Everybody's fine." Mrs. Lupin announced, attempting to straighten up, only to find that Carrie was clutching hold of the front of her coat. "It's alright, Carrie love, you're perfectly safe now."

"What are we going to...to tell...people?" Carrie whispered worriedly, and she felt Teddy's mother reach to give her a brief hug.

"Don't you worry about that." she whispered back. "I'm ace at cover stories..."

"What the hell happened to her?" Cleo cried, eyes wide as saucers as she watched Carrie reluctantly relinquish her hold upon the pink haired woman's coat.

"It's a long story." Mrs. Lupin said simply, and despite her unease, Carrie wanted to snigger. "Come on, Cleo, Remus can take you home..." she hurriedly headed back out into the hallway, reaching to shoo Cleo out after her, only for Carrie to hear Cleo announce:

"Wow...what the hell happened to HIM?"

"Oh Mer..." Mrs. Lupin caught herself just in time, deciding: "Scrap that idea, eh? I'll take you home."

"Is he having a STROKE or something...?" Cleo's voice asked, excited rather than worried, and Carrie heard Mrs. Lupin give a stiff chuckle.

"Nah...he just likes to pull funny faces...Remus, go and sit down...TED? Come and help Dad!"

Carrie heard Teddy's pounding steps upon the stairs as he called:

"I'm coming, I was just using the toi...oh..."

The front door shut with a bang and quite suddenly the house was very quiet. Carrie wondered quite what she was going to tell Cleo about the night's events, though she supposed Mrs. Lupin would make some sort of story up, she seemed to be quite used to doing so. Carrie turned at the sound of soft footsteps, there were a few murmured voices before a turquoise blur bolted into the room, and before Carrie could so much as blink, she felt a pair of arms being flung around her.

"Carrie, I was SO WORRIED!" Teddy cried as he hugged the girl fiercely, his face buried in her shoulder. "I thought...I don't even know what I thought...!"

Carrie tried to reach and hug him back, only her arms felt much too heavy.

"Let her breath, Teddy." Mr. Lupin's voice suggested quietly, and when Teddy drew back from her, Carrie saw the werewolf walking slowly towards the sofa.

Or limping, rather...

For it seemed that it was no longer just Mr. Lupin's arm that was going limp. The spell's effects seemed to be gradually spreading, his right shoulder was slumped, right leg dragging as he walked, and when he turned to smile at the two children only half of his face seemed to move.

"You stay put a while, Carrie." he told the muggle girl kindly. "That spell will wear off soon enough, I'm sure."

Carrie bit her lip, she felt rather guilty about his own injury, it was rather her fault, after all.

"Thank you for rescuing me, Mr. Lupin." she mumbled a little shyly as she peered up at him through her puffy eyes. "I knew I could rely on you both." She felt a little frustrated that he seemed somewhat underwhelmed by her gratitude, she wanted him to realise just how grateful and sincere she was being, but he merely smiled a little and murmured:

"You're very welcome, Carrie."

Maybe war heroes were far too used to saving people to truly appreciate just how good they were, the child mused.

Carrie wondered what he would think of her if she admitted to him that Mrs. Lupin's words back at the Goyle's house had made her feel rather warm and fuzzy inside despite the tense situation.

You give us our kid, and we'll give you yours...

Our kid. Carrie rather liked the idea of that. She liked the idea of being part of this family, whether she could truly fit in or not. She would like a second set of parents, of sorts, and another brother. Part of her supposed she ought feel awful for admitting to herself that she simply preferred Teddy's family to her own, but she wasn't entirely sure that she really cared enough to feel that way.

"You look...sort of funny." Teddy told his father as he watched him slump down onto the sofa with a heavy sigh.

"I can assure you, Theodore," Mr. Lupin said dryly, gaze upon the ceiling. "Being cursed by Ursula Goyle is not even remotely funny..."

"Mum says she's a loony."

"Loony or not, she is an exceptionally powerful wi...sh..." the werewolf trailed off as his jaw gave a twitch and Carrie bit her lip at the sight of his entire face seemingly sagging.

Teddy's eyes widened worriedly before he muttered:

"Crazy bitch...!"

"Thee...dur!"

"But she is!"

"I don' cur..."

"I think you should wait and let Mum tell me off. You just sound silly, Dad, it's not very authoritative..."

"Fur loff o' Murwin..."

"No...no, Dad, that's just nonsense..."

"Yur muffer ish goin' to be unprethed..."

"I didn't get that, either."

As the partially unintelligible debate broke out between father and son, Carrie allowed her eyes to drift closed, soaking up the warm, cosy atmosphere of the Lupins' living room.

It was over. It was all over...

At the sound of a soft hissing noise, Carrie's eyes snapped open and she found that a series of shining, silvery letters appeared to be writing themselves in thin air just in front of where Mr. Lupin sat.

WAIT UNTIL YOUR MOTHER COMES HOME THEODORE, the letters proclaimed.

And as the magical letters slowly faded away into thin air, Carrie Winters found herself smiling broadly.

It was all over, she thought with a contented sigh, and no matter how traumatic she had found the events of that evening, she did not regret her meddling in the slightest.

It was not long before the front door creaking signaled Mrs. Lupin's return from walking Cleo home, and the rest of her family halted their squabbling, Teddy turning to look as she walked into the room.

The pink haired witch took a long look at the state of her husband sitting slumped upon the sofa, before shaking her head with a sigh.

"Crazy bitch!" she grumbled under her breath, before turning to head back out into the hallway and towards the kitchen.

Mr. Lupin audibly groaned as Teddy let out a shout of laughter, and Carrie's grin widened as she shifted to get more comfortable in her chair.

No, she would not have had things any other way, no matter how much trouble she had gotten into. It had been worth while, the Goyles had been caught, and the perfect little world that she had discovered on that fateful summer day was close to restoration.

And Caroline Winters had never been more glad of anything than her inclusion into that world. She smiled at the stroke of luck that had lead her to meet the Lupins.

**Finish.**


End file.
